An Edinburgh wearable tech start-up is looking to take on the might of Apple and Garmin after securing more than £300,000 for its “world first” repairable sports watch. UNA Watch has netted the investment from London-based SFC Capital, with the cash injection going towards the development of the firm’s patent-pending technology ahead of an upcoming Kickstarter launch. The funding deal is seen as a rare win for consumer hardware - a notoriously tough sector for early-stage funding. SFC Capital has backed some of the UK’s best-known start-ups including Fussy, Easy Guide and Hope and Glory. Capital-based UNA Watch, which also won the £100,000 top prize from Scottish Edge last year, is pioneering a new category of sustainable smartwatches, allowing users to repair, replace and upgrade components instead of discarding entire devices. The innovation should help address a mounting “e-waste” crisis, with 62 million tonnes of consumer electronics discarded annually. Company founder Lewis Allison, an experienced electronics engineer and former chief technology officer of wearable golf tech brand Shot Scope, said that getting the watch design into the hands of potential investors had been critical as they were then able to “try it like Lego”. He said: “We knew getting funding for a consumer hardware start-up was incredibly difficult, but when we placed our modular watch in front of SFC Capital, everything clicked. They assembled the components like Lego, instantly realising the potential. By the end of the meeting, we had our investment interest.” The venture has already generated revenue through early industry contracts, including a six-figure deal with IHF Digital Limited for fatigue monitoring. The pre-seed investment from SFC Capital now accelerates the consumer launch of UNA Watch’s GPS-enabled smartwatch, designed to compete with the biggest names in fitness tech. The idea for UNA Watch was born from frustration. After spending nearly a decade designing smartwatches for the golf market, Allison had seen first-hand how wearables across the industry were largely engineered for disposability. The turning point came when his wife scratched her Apple Watch just two days after buying it. The official repair cost was so high that replacing the watch seemed like the only viable option. “Most smartwatches are designed to be replaced, not repaired,” added Allison. “If your screen cracks or the battery wears down, you’re left with an expensive paperweight. UNA Watch is built differently - it’s a watch that lasts, grows with you, and helps reduce e-waste.” With a four-person team, UNA Watch is set to launch its first GPS-enabled modular smartwatch via Kickstarter. Already more than 7,000 people have registered interest, with almost 1,000 already putting down deposits. Ed Stevenson of SFC Capital said: “Consumer tech is an incredibly saturated space, so when somebody puts something in front of you that’s genuinely different, it leaps out. We were impressed by the ambition of UNA’s founding team, and see the brand as a bona fide disruptor in the wearable technology landscape with the potential to make a real mark.”