Amiqus scoops Deloitte’s Scottish technology prize

A pioneering project aiming to allow regulated professionals to securely collect client on boarding information and documents, has won business consultancy firm Deloitte’s prestigious Disrupt the Enterprise competition, an annual pitch competition inviting Scotland’s most disruptive and innovative technology start-ups to showcase their ideas in front of a panel of industry-leaders.

A shortlist of six finalists were invited to Deloitte’s Greenhouse facility in Edinburgh to present their ideas to a panel of judges including: Roz Cuschieri, board member of Emily’s Crisps and Social Bite Ltd; Polly Purvis OBE, chief executive of Scotland IS and board chair at Code Clan; Stacey Winters, partner at Deloitte; and Rich Hurley, partner at Deloitte.

Each finalist was given eight-minutes to pitch their ideas followed by a 2-minute Q&A with the judges. This year’s winner was Amiqus, an organisation focused on fast and secure anti-money laundering, identity and compliance checks, through digital verification and complete granular level screening checks.

Callum Murray, founder and CEO of Amiqus, said: “We’re delighted to be recognised by Deloitte and win Disrupt the Enterprise 18. Their support and seconded resource within our team over the coming six months arrives at the perfect time as we continue to grow across sectors in the UK and make steps towards the US market.”

Amiqus scooped the top prize of being supported with an injection of support from Deloitte, including seconding a consulting analyst into the start-up for six months. Last year’s winner, Castlight Financial, describes Disrupt the Enterprise as a crucial moment in their journey so far.

Commenting on the winner Rich Hurley, partner at Deloitte and judge at Disrupt the Enterprise, said: “The pace at which technology is changing and the extent this is impacting upon the business landscape is staggering. What we have seen today is some of Scotland’s most disruptive start-ups demonstrating how they intend to seize these opportunities and solve problems that may not even exist yet, but are inevitable.

“We look for pitches that tell the story of the business; who they are, where their idea came from, and crucially, how they see the business growing in the days to come. We need to understand why the business really is innovative, why it is a step ahead and what sets it apart from all the others enterprises competing in that space. We’d like to thank all the businesses and innovators that took part in the competition and we hope that each of them has been able to take something positive from the experience.”

The most disruptive prize on the night was awarded to Topolytics. CEO and founder Michael Groves delivered the pitch and described his data and analytics business to a room full of fellow entrepreneurs which focused on industrial and commercial waste through a meta-map of waste generation, movement and recycling.