University crowns Scotland’s newest entrepreneurs

Some of Scotland’s brightest business prospects have been recognised by the UK’s leading entrepreneurial university.

The University of Dundee crowned the winners of its annual Venture competition for new business concepts at a live event this week.

Fledgling enterprises from students, staff and graduates were all recognised, with winners receiving seed funding from category sponsors to help turn their ideas into reality. Additionally, all winners will receive a place on Elevator’s summer business accelerator programme, giving them expert guidance as they develop their plans.

The Venture final marked the culmination of the University’s annual Entrepreneurship Week, a series of workshops and lectures championing opportunities for businesses in Scotland. 

The event is at the core of the University’s effort to support budding businesspeople, which has received national and international recognition. Last year, Dundee was named Innovative & Entrepreneurial University of the Year in the European Triple E Awards, and the UK’s Outstanding Entrepreneurial University of the Year at the Times Higher Education Awards.

University entrepreneurs continue to make waves in the business world. MedAscend, an AI-powered medical training platform, and Grant Murdock, of Murdock Wood Ltd, both secured prizes at the recent Scottish Edge Regional Awards.

Brian McNicoll, Head of Entrepreneurship, said, "It was inspiring to witness more of our early-stage entrepreneurs deliver compelling pitches to a packed audience and a panel of esteemed judges at Venture. 

“Their innovation and ambition were on full display, reflecting the incredible potential within our entrepreneurial community. A huge thanks goes out to our external prize funding sponsors, whose unwavering support underpins the level of excellence in this competition."

The full list of Venture 2025 winners are:

Microfinance sponsored by Converge:

• Resourie Studio – Bethan White
• AFRE – Daniel Afe
• Pathway – Cathal Gibson
• CryoProtecX – Shravan Rathod

Science and Engineering Student/Recent Graduate Award – Sponsored by Engineers in Business Fellowship
•    NaeWhisky – Clara Seyfried & Mudather Mohamedhassan

Student and Recent Graduate Award:
•    accessAble Scot - Amy Winter 
•    AI-MZ - Aroob Manzoor & Finlay Macken

Staff Award:
•    SolDefender - David Bajek & Ewan Eadie 
•    Earthclust - Hajk-Georg Drost 

Digital Award sponsored by TechScaler: 
•    AI-MZ - Aroob Manzoor & Finlay Macken 

Social Award sponsored by Ruby Capital: 
•    accessAble Scot - Amy Winter

McGhee Award:
•    MammoCheck – Athina Grigoriou 
•    EarthClust – Hajk-Georg Drost
•    AI-MZ - Aroob Manzoor & Finlay Macken

More details about each finalist can be found on the Venture webpages.