The Ventures Lab by Challenges Group

💡 “You don’t have to raise equity.” 💡 “Not all capital is equal.” 💡 “The wrong funding can cost you more than no funding.” These are the kinds of conversations we’ll be having at Raising Money Without Regret: Smart Capital for Impact Founders 📅 Tue 26 May 🕚 11:00 – 13:30 📍 The Bakery, Brunswick Street Lane, Edinburgh @myed.inburgh We’re bringing together a mix of perspectives across the funding landscape: 💠Robert Hokin – international investment advisor 💠Daisy Ford-Downes – social & third-sector investment 💠Barry McCulloch – British Business Bank Expect: · A clear breakdown of grants, debt, angels, VC & impact funding · Honest insights into what investors don’t tell you · A safe space to ask ‘basic’ or ‘taboo’ questions (anonymously if needed) · Real conversations with founders navigating the same decisions If you’re exploring funding, preparing to raise, or questioning whether you should at all, this is the event you can’t afford to miss. Spaces are limited. Save your spot now

Most founders get bad advice about raising money. Too early. Too generic. Too focused on VC as the only path. We’re changing that. Raising Money Without Regret: Smart Capital for Impact Founders 📅 Tue 26 May ⏰ 11:00 – 13:30 📍 The Bakery, Brunswick Street Lane This is a founder-first session designed to help you understand your real funding options, ask the questions you’ve been holding back, and make smarter decisions about capital. You’ll hear from: • Robert Hokin (Fundraising101™) – 20+ years in impact & venture finance • Daisy Ford-Downes – Third-sector & social investment specialist • Barry McCulloch (British Business Bank Scotland) – UK funding landscape expert No pitching. No fluff. Just honest conversations about what could work for you. To book your slot, link is in our bio! 🌏 If you're building an impact-led venture and thinking about funding, this is for you. Register to book your spot ➡️

April is Stress Awareness Month. 📅 At The Ventures Lab by Challenges Group, we understand the pressure that comes with running a business. From managing cash flows and measuring performance, to securing investment and keeping on top of an ever-growing to-do list. Running a venture is hard! Swipe for some simple, practical tips from our team to help founders manage stress. A reminder to take a step back when you need to, look after yourself, and check in with those around you. #StressAwarenessMonth #BeTheChange

We’re pleased to welcome Nick Murray as our new Head of Ecosystem Partnerships at The Ventures Lab by Challenges Group. Nick joins us with a clear focus: to better connect the ventures we support into Scotland’s wider business ecosystem and unlock meaningful partnership opportunities through a range of initiatives (more announcements soon, watch this space). His role will centre on building strong, practical relationships across the ecosystem, from public sector organisations to commercial partners who are actively looking to support and work with impact-led ventures. This marks the start of an important chapter for The Ventures Lab, where we continue to strengthen how ventures connect, collaborate, and grow within the ecosystem. Keep your eyes peeled over the coming months as Nick leads on some exciting developments at The Ventures Lab. Welcome to the team, Nick! 🤝

What does working with one of our Venture Support Managers actually look like? Our Venture Support Managers work closely with founders to move their venture forward. This is not hands-off advice. It is active, tailored support grounded in genuine experience. Here’s what you can expect: 🔹 1:1 support shaped around where your venture is now 🔹 Hands-on input across your business model, including market insight, positioning, financial modelling and investment readiness 🔹 A collaborative space to test ideas, challenge assumptions and make informed decisions 🔹 Ongoing support as your venture progresses, from investment readiness through to growth We work alongside you to understand the challenges, design practical solutions and strengthen the foundations of your venture. At every stage, impact and commercial performance are developed together. The focus is simple. Build a venture that works in the real world, and delivers the change it set out to create. 🌍 If you are an impact venture looking for structured, hands-on support to move your venture forward, get in touch or explore which pathway is right for you.

Understanding your market is not a one-off task. It starts with asking the right questions: Who is this for? What problem are they actually experiencing? What are they doing today instead? But it doesn’t stop there. Across early exploration, investment readiness, and growth, we consistently see the same patterns. The ventures that build strongest are those that keep testing and refining their understanding of the market over time. That often includes: - Direct conversations with users and customers 👥 - Mapping real-world behaviour, not just competitors - Keyword research to understand active vs latent demand 🔍 - Market and landscape analysis to identify gaps and positioning 📊 -Testing assumptions through pilots, prototypes, and early traction 🧪 These aren’t one-off exercises. They are ongoing diagnostics. At early stage, they help reduce risk and shape direction 🧭 At investment stage, they build credibility and evidence At growth stage, they guide expansion and decision-making 📈 Strong ventures don’t rely on assumptions. They build with evidence and adapt as they learn. If you’re looking to better understand your audience and test your market, feel free to get in touch 🤝

Huge congratulations to @seilich_botanicals on becoming finalists at the Chelsea Flower Show for the Sustainable Excellence Award! 🌸 At The Ventures Lab, we’re proud to support businesses like Seilich that show how entrepreneurship can actively restore nature. Founded by botanist and conservationist Dr Sally Gouldstone, Seilich creates award-winning skincare and botanical teas using plants hand-picked from their own Scottish wildflower meadows. But their impact goes far beyond their products. 🌼 Restoring biodiversity Seilich works with farmers and landowners to help develop and protect wildflower meadows, creating vital habitats for pollinators like bees and butterflies. 🌿 Education and awareness Through their work, Dr Sally and the Seilich team also educate communities and customers about botanicals, helping people understand how plants can support both wellbeing and ecosystem health. 🐝 Nature-positive harvesting Their botanicals are carefully harvested so the majority of each meadow remains untouched, ensuring ecosystems continue to thrive while producing their skincare and teas. Now Seilich has the exciting opportunity to showcase this wildlife-friendly, meadow-grown approach on a national stage at the Chelsea Flower Show. To help make it happen, they’ve launched a crowdfunder, with a range of fantastic rewards and prizes available for supporters. Follow the link in their bio if you'd like to support this incredible mission! @seilich_botanicals 🌸

NEWS: Mission-led founders secure vital support at Impact Challenge Awards Scotland’s brightest emerging mission-led founders stepped into the spotlight on Thursday (5 March) as the Impact Challenge Final and Awards took place in central Edinburgh. Hosted by Converge in partnership with @theventureslab - the venture building arm of @challengesgroup - the event saw 14 members of the Impact Challenge cohort pitch their ideas live and face questions from a panel of judges. At stake was a £10,000 prize pot of equity-free funding and in-kind business support, specifically designed to help early-stage university founders establish a sustainable footing for their mission-driven businesses. The judges awarded four cash prizes of £1500 each, based on the projects’ business cases, their pitches and their responses to the questions in front of the live audience. The winning projects were: 🏆 Kumfa Tech, pitched by Lukman Yusuf, University of Glasgow: a novel process for decontaminating wastewater of harmful pollutants 🏆 Neon Guard, pitched by Leighann Lindsay on behalf of Chelsea Jarvie, University of Strathclyde: an age-intelligence platform for safer digital experiences 🏆 Patient Flow Bottleneck Explorer, pitched by Muhammed Saaed, Abertay University: turning hospital data into clear insights to keep care moving 🏆 WombWise, pitched by Emily Youngs, Edinburgh Napier University: health monitoring to enable earlier detection of endometriosis and PCOS 🏆 Emily Youngs from WombWise also took the Audience Choice prize for Best Pitch, winning a £50 book token Before the prizes were awarded, the audience heard two inspiring talks from entrepreneurs already successfully running mission-led businesses. Dr Kavi Jagadamma, co-founder of Health Design Collective, and runner up in the Converge Social Enterprise Challenge in 2018, talked of his passion for working with end-users to co-design accessible and affordable health care products. Mark Blair, CEO of Effective Now, talked of the delicate balancing act of running a mission-led business while remaining commercially viable.

What an incredible day at the first ever Impact Challenge ⭐ Hosted by @convergechallenge in partnership with The Ventures Lab by Challenges Group at The Bakery, Edinburgh @myed.inburgh the inaugural event brought together an inspiring community of founders, supporters and partners committed to driving meaningful impact through entrepreneurship. A huge thank you to the brilliant cohort of founders who took to the stage to pitch their ventures, sharing not only their ideas but the passion and purpose behind them. From 80 applicants across Scotland’s universities, 15 ventures were selected to pitch. The Impact Challenge highlighted something we strongly believe at The Ventures Lab: there is a real and growing need to support impact founders who are creating systemic change while building commercially viable ventures. Supporting founders at this intersection is at the very core of our mission. 🌍 We are incredibly grateful to everyone who joined us and helped make the first Impact Challenge such a fantastic event. If you were not able to attend the pitches, do not worry. The winners will be revealed shortly. 👀 In the meantime, here are a few candid moments from a brilliant day celebrating innovation, ambition and impact.

Last week was Entrepreneurship Week 2026 at the University of Dundee, a dynamic showcase of innovation across the campus. Organised by the Centre for Entrepreneurship, the week featured 12 key events, from marketing and funding workshops to high level masterclasses with industry leaders such as Deborah O’Neill. The programme brought together a diverse network of partners, including local business support organisations like Business Gateway Tayside and Elevator, alongside specialist organisations such as The Ventures Lab. The week reached its climax at the Venture Final 2026 on Thursday 26 February, where finalists from across the University pitched their ideas to a live audience and expert panel, competing for a share of nearly £60,000 in prize funding. Our Venture Support Manager, Cat Ward, said: “I absolutely loved being part of Entrepreneurship Week 2026. Working with founders to strip their ideas back to the real, urgent problems they’re solving is where the magic happens. We challenged assumptions, separated ‘interesting’ from ‘essential’, and focused on the pains people will genuinely act on and pay to fix. The energy, honesty and ambition in the room was incredible. Huge thanks to the Centre for Entrepreneurship team for creating the space for these honest, ambitious conversations. This is exactly why we do what we do at The Ventures Lab.” 🌍

@theventureslab by Challenges Group is looking for academics with bold ideas to join us on a new AHRC Proof of Concept grant. If you’ve got a concept with real potential, we want to hear from you! Link in bio.

Excited to be at #SEWF25 in Taipei! Can’t wait to meet changemakers from around the world and exchange ideas that drive real impact. 💡 #ImpactVentures #SocialEnterprise #GlobalImpact #ventureslab @_sewf @firstportscotland @unistrathclyde @challengesgroup