The Venture Codex

Led · Equity · Aug 2026

Kenoteq manufactures K-Briq, a masonry product made using almost 100% recycled construction and demolition waste as an alternative to conventional masonry. The company is scaling production to meet commercial demand and is supplying K-Briq for an NHS development in Wales as well as theatre and restaurant projects in London. To support scaling, Kenoteq has raised almost £900,000 in the first tranche of an ongoing £2 million funding round led by Kelvin Capital with participation from the Scottish Enterprise Co-Investment Fund and existing investors. The funding is earmarked to increase production capacity and support commercial delivery across healthcare, hospitality and commercial property sectors. The round remains open to additional investors as the company pursues its commercial pipeline. Company leadership described the investment as a validation of its technology and commercial strategy as it expands.

Participated · Equity · Nov 2024

Biotangents has developed a cost‑effective on‑farm molecular diagnostic that returns highly accurate results in less than two hours, enabling informed treatment decisions for dairy farmers. The device sends data to the farmer’s phone and can integrate with farm management systems, vets, and milk processors. The technology is aimed at reducing unnecessary antibiotic use (estimated unnecessary treatment in up to 40% of cases) and addressing antimicrobial resistance while improving herd health, productivity, and sustainability. Biotangents is focused on next‑generation diagnostics for the animal health sector, with potential future applications in human healthcare and environmental monitoring. The company announced a £2.3m investment round to support development and commercialisation and will commence on‑farm trials across the UK and internationally next year. Biotangents was founded in 2015 as a University of Edinburgh spinout and is headquartered at the Pentlands Science Park near Edinburgh. Biotangents, founded in 2015, is based at the Pentlands Science Park just outside Edinburgh. The company has developed Isothermal technology for rapid detection of a range of animal diseases including Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) and Mastitis. Its AmpliSpec™ Mastitis diagnostic test cuts detection time from several days to just a few hours. Leadership includes founders Dr Andy Hall-Ponselè and Lina Gasiūnaitė, with Fiona Marshall as CEO, Ian Hamilton as Chairman and Ross McDermid as Director of Commercialisation. Biotangents intends to use the new funds to develop and roll out its on-farm rapid disease detection technology. Financially, the company has raised prior rounds of £1.2m in August 2021 (led by Kelvin Capital) and £1.5m in May 2019.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2024

Novosound claims to have developed the world’s first ultrasonic blood pressure monitor, enabling cuffless blood pressure monitoring in wearable devices with accuracy comparable to conventional electronic cuff devices. The technology is built on the company’s Slanj platform, which also supports hydration tracking, muscle health assessment, and gesture recognition. Novosound previously collaborated at the Texas Medical Center in Houston and plans to showcase its innovations at CES 2025 in Las Vegas. The company is positioning the technology for global wearable and digital health markets. Novosound recently completed a £2 million funding round to accelerate commercialisation. Par Equity and the company cite plans to accelerate internationalisation and global sales. Novosound, founded in 2018 as a spin-out from the University of the West of Scotland, develops flexible ultrasound sensors capable of continuous operation at high temperatures and delivering higher-resolution images. Its sensors are positioned for both medical imaging and industrial non-destructive testing (NDT) to detect below-surface defects, cracks, or corrosion. The company was established by CTO Dave Hughes and CEO Richard Cooper. In December 2019 Novosound raised funding that it will use to match a £1.0m R&D grant from Scottish Enterprise for product development. Management also plans to use the proceeds to pursue expansion into global markets and new industries. The article does not disclose operating metrics such as revenue or user numbers. Novosound develops hi-tech ultrasound sensors for industrial and medical markets, replacing conventional sensor materials with a flexible piezoelectric thin-film. The company is a spin-out from the University of the West of Scotland and is based at the Biocity incubator outside Glasgow. It secured a £1 million grant from Scottish Enterprise to rapidly scale up R&D and accelerate production activity. Novosound will create 17 new STEM roles, bringing staff to more than 30 and plans to establish a dedicated medical sensors team. The firm previously raised £1.5 million in seed funding in April 2018 from early investors including Par Equity, Kelvin Capital, the Scottish Investment Bank and Investing Women. Management says the technology can produce MR-resolution images at lower cost and highlights a large global ultrasonic market opportunity.

Participated · Equity · Aug 2024

Chromacity is an Edinburgh-based laser technology company that designs, develops and manufactures pulsed fibre lasers. It specializes in fixed-wavelength femtosecond fibre lasers and picosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO) tuneable systems based on a novel patented architecture that delivers ultra-stable long-term performance. The fixed-wavelength femtosecond lasers operate at 1040nm, 920nm and 520nm, while the tuneable picosecond OPOs cover near‑IR to mid‑IR wavelengths from 1.4um to 12um. Its lasers are used for scientific and industrial research including spectroscopy, microscopy, defect detection, pollution monitoring and a broad variety of quantum applications. Customers include Sandia National Laboratories, Harvard University and the US Air Force. Led by CEO Julian Hayes, the company raised over £1M and intends to use the funds to launch its technology into the healthcare and agriculture markets.

Participated · Series A · Jun 2024

Edinburgh-based Sofant Technologies is engineering low-power radio-frequency (RF) MEMS beam-forming antennas designed to improve the efficiency of satellite communications and future 5G and 6G networks. Its proprietary architecture aims to cut power consumption and size while boosting performance, making it attractive for defence, aerospace, satellite, and high-performance enterprise markets. The company has spent an extended period in research and development, refining its breakthrough hardware platform. With its latest financing, Sofant intends to transition from R&D into full commercial launch, scaling production and deployment of its technology. Management believes the solution represents a step-change in wireless system design, potentially redefining what is possible in low-power, high-performance connectivity. Financially, Sofant has just secured £6.25 million in fresh equity capital to fund this commercial rollout, underscoring investor confidence in its market potential.