Raven swoops on £65k investment from Scottish EDGE final

A software brand whose technology has been used at the Ryder Cup and 2018 European Championships, has scooped £65,000 from the latest Scottish EDGE funding round. UK-based Raven, which provides crisis management software for digital integrated command and control of events, joins a range of enterprising small businesses as Sottish EDGE alumni, including Brewgooder, Gin Bothy and MiAlgae. With the funding, Raven plans to grow and develop its team by hiring a further two software developers to work on its safety and security software, as well as boost the headcount in its sales and marketing teams. Now in its sixth year and 13th round of funding, the Scottish EDGE competition aims to identify and support rising innovative, high-potential entrepreneurial talent. This year’s final took place over two days at Royal Bank of Scotland’s Gogarburn conference centre, during which contestants pitched their business plans to the judges. The judging panel, chaired by business expert and managing director of wholesaler Filshill Simon Hannah, recognised Raven’s international scalability and could see the value of its service to its customers. Ian Kerr, founder and managing director of Raven, said: “The Scottish EDGE competition has been a fantastic experience for Raven and it’s an honour to be recognised among such as strong field of finalists.” Raven is now looking to rapidly scale over the course of 2019 and its win coincides with the firm’s office move to Red Tree Magenta, a new development in the centre of Glasgow’s booming sports district. Kerr added: “We’re really happy with our new offices – the space gives us a lot more capacity, which will be crucial as we look to bring in more members of staff and build the Raven brand globally.” Raven is a real-time crisis and incident management tool that brings everything together to give event and venue managers outstanding visibility. The Raven app ensures all staff receive consistent information in real time, capture accurately what is going on and reduce any reliance on anecdotal evidence for planning, and responding.