URGENT – Appeal Must Be Filed by 28 November
I am urgently raising funds to save my company, Wootzano, from a procedural trap that is about to shut down one of the UK’s most innovative robotics businesses. This is not due to commercial failure — it is happening because the company’s accounts were frozen following a petition brought by Innovate UK Loans Limited, the government lender under UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
The Innovate UK Innovation Loan is advertised as “patient, flexible capital.” The loan agreement itself contains flexibility mechanisms — including restructuring, variation, and repayment deferral — especially when a funded subsystem does not reach commercialisation. In our case, the subsystem did not progress to commercial deployment, and this should have allowed for adjustment. Instead, the matter proceeded under the standard debt recovery route, ultimately leading to a liquidation petition.
When the interlocutor was issued, Wootzano’s bank accounts were immediately frozen — even though the company remains fully operational in eight countries. This created a catastrophic legal Catch-22:
- In Scotland, companies cannot represent themselves in court except in very narrow circumstances.
- A solicitor is legally required to lodge the reclaiming (appeal) motion.
- But with accounts frozen, the company cannot pay a solicitor.
- And if the appeal is not lodged by 28 November, the liquidation becomes final and irreversible.
This means a functioning UK robotics company can be silenced entirely, unable to access justice, purely because the accounts were frozen before legal representation could be secured. This raises urgent public-interest concerns about access to justice for innovative companies in Scotland.
To break this deadlock, we urgently need to fund the initial £10,000 solicitor retainer required to lodge the reclaiming motion.
All donations will be used exclusively for legal representation and urgent court filings.
Wootzano contributes over £537 million in commercial value through robotics exports, UK engineering jobs, and suppliers who depend on us. Our customers in the UK, the US, Europe, and Asia rely on our systems daily. We are also the only British agricultural robotics company to have shipped commercial robots to Japan, one of the world’s most demanding robotics markets.
The loan itself was £838,000, and like all Innovate UK Innovation Loans, it was offered on the basis of “patient, flexible capital” designed to support high-growth companies through temporary cashflow challenges. This flexibility is embedded directly in the contract.
But if the flexibility that is supposed to exist is not applied in practice, no scaling technology company, especially one still commercialising subsystems, would ever have taken this type of loan.
This raises a major public-interest question for the entire Innovation Loans portfolio of more than 240 companies:
If a company makes long-term strategic decisions based on the expectation of government-backed “patient capital,” but is instead treated as a standard commercial debtor with no flexibility, the risks to UK innovation are severe.
Our shareholders are a diverse community:
farmers, engineers, families, technologists, and individuals who believed that Britain could lead the world in robotics.
Many invested because they believed in a future where British deep-tech could compete on the global stage.
If Wootzano is lost in this procedural trap, the message sent to the world is devastating:
That Britain cannot protect its own innovators.
That “patient capital” may not be patient.
That government-backed innovation support can become a hard-debt process.
That even globally successful UK deep-tech companies can be dissolved without being heard in court.
This will damage trust not only in Wootzano, but in the entire UK innovation ecosystem — nationally and internationally.
As a UK Export Champion who has represented Britain on government trade missions to Malaysia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Europe, it is heartbreaking to see a world-leading British robotics company placed at risk due to a procedural barrier.
If you believe in fairness, due process, access to justice, and protecting British innovation, please consider supporting or sharing this urgently. Even the smallest contribution helps us lodge the appeal in time.
The deadline is 28 November. Every day matters. Every hour matters.
Thank you for your generosity.
Once the company is stabilised, I fully intend to acknowledge everyone who stood with us during this critical moment.
Dr Atif Syed
Founder & CEO, Wootzano Ltd
Organizer
