A serial entrepreneur based in Aberdeen is flying out to California’s Silicon Valley with the aim of raising £5 million from US investors.
Beena Sharma will be pitching to potential investors as part of a group of companies taking part in a scheme called Startup Grind Scotland.
She is the only delegate from Aberdeen taking part in the Scottish Government-funded programme in a group dominated by representatives of aspiring technology firms based in the central belt.
However, her firm Bio Technical Scotland is highly international in outlook – it is leading a pilot programme in Abu Dhabi while its first commercial project is currently under construction in France.
Bio Technical specialises in using food waste to produce biogas and microalgae which has multiple uses including fish and animal feed, pharmaceuticals, supplements, and cosmetics in a global market Sharma estimates is worth billions.
Its project in the Middle East focuses on producing nutrients that enable crops to grow in arid desert conditions.
She said its French facility, which is currently seeking planning permission, will be handling 5 metric tonnes of food waste a day.
Sharma, who moved to Aberdeen over four years ago, has spearheaded a number of entrepreneurial ventures. Her firm Imperium Experts launched Bio Technical Scotland in January.
Skyrocketing
She said: “I really enjoy helping people set up their businesses, get everything running, get the funding in and then let them get on with it.
“The opportunity for Bio Technical came about and I jumped at the chance.
“My company Imperium which I own with my business partner Jordan Ferguson – we bought into it and brought it into Scotland and since January we have skyrocketed from there.”
If she is successful in raising the cash, she plans to establish research and production facilities in Scotland.
She is confident that the startup event in California will be useful.
She said: “The key to this wasn’t some grant funding or support from an accelerator programme, I wanted to get this business in front of investors right now.”
Part of the scheme involves a “pitch party” where delegates are paired with potential investors.
Although she feels confident, she also admits to some nerves.
Hope interest will come from US event
“I hope something will come of that but if it doesn’t the experience itself is just phenomenal – I’m absolutely crapping my pants,” she admitted.
“We are not a company that has been around for ages that have been asking for money. We know we will raise it quite quickly.
“This opportunity doesn’t come for many Scottish companies to be up in front of investors in Silicon Valley.
“Of the cohort, we are probably one of the most lucrative, without sounding too bigheaded.
“We have a phenomenal team behind us.”
I hope something will come of that but if it but if it doesn’t the experience itself is just phenomenal – I’m absolutely crapping my pants.”
Companies from across the north and north-east were urged to apply for the US Startup Grind in which applicants will fly from Edinburgh to San Francisco on 9 April and return on 15 April.
The cost of flights, accommodation, conference tickets and travel costs are funded by the Scottish Government’s £7m technology ecosystem fund which was launched following the publication of Logan Report, an independent review of the Scottish technology ecosystem.
Mark Logan, former Skyscanner chief operating officer and author of the report, said: “The quality of the companies selected for the programme truly represents the ambitions of the Scottish ecosystem fund.
“There is enormous potential in every single leader in this cohort.”