Fife-based investment firm Eos Advisory sees portfolio reach valuation of £121m - with various further 'milestone' announcements on cards

St Andrews-based investment firm Eos Advisory has revealed that its portfolio has reached a total valuation of £121 million based on latest investment rounds, and saw its first two exits in 2021 – while it has various “milestone” announcements on the cards.

The company, which was founded in 2014 and whose senior ranks include record-breaking endurance cyclist Mark Beaumont, now has a portfolio of 13 investee companies including Cumulus Oncology, ILC Therapeutics, and Clinspec DX – and one of exits last year included when Genus acquired a large stake in aquaculture specialist Xelect.

Eos says it invests in four key impact areas: disease diagnosis, prevention and treatment; energy security, climate change and pollution; food and water security; and sustainability of industrial processes and infrastructure.

From left: Eos' Andrew McNeill and Mark Beaumont. Picture: Stewart Attwood.

It also now has three investment pillars in place, namely the Eos Syndicate, Eos Innovation Fund, and Eos Venture Partnerships, forming part of a wider strategy to support the funding of Scottish innovation beyond the seed stage.

In January last year, Eos announced that it had led a £1.24m investment into RAB-Microfluidics, an Aberdeen-headquartered specialist in research and development, which is behind pioneering technology to diagnose engine and turbine wear in real time.

Eos also pointed out that in February 2021, it secured its first strategic investment partnership with US-based Kineticos Life Sciences, to co-invest in early-stage Scottish companies, and the tie-up aims to invest more than £10m over the next five years in oncology-focused life sciences ventures.

Next, in June, sustainable food protein scale-up and University of Strathclyde spin-out Enough (previously called 3F BIO), secured a $43 million (£32m) Series B round, and the following month, RNA and DNA genetic sequencing specialist Wobble Genomics, a spin-out from the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute, secured a seven-figure round led by Eos.

The Fife investment firm added that the past year has also been focused on building the Eos team, including the board appointment of Chris Brinsmead, a former senior AstraZeneca executive and former adviser to the UK Government on life sciences, and Callum Keddie, who previously led a London-based venture capital impact fund, joining Eos as an investment executive.

Extended remit

Eos managing partner Andrew McNeill said: “Over the past 12 months, Eos Advisory has seen significant growth both in our portfolio and in our core business... we have found that better communicating our focus and process as impact investors has really widened our network of investors and our opportunities.

“Our modus operandi is to continue supporting our companies post-investment, and helping them to grow. On the investor side, we have expanded the investor base outside Scotland, especially across the UK and North America. 2022 is going to be another exciting year and we have a number of milestone announcements in the pipeline.”

Mr Beaumont, partner at the firm, also commented: “The Eos Syndicate continues to be a collective of very active investors in innovation that has a positive impact in the world, emanating mainly from Scottish universities, and the addition of our EIS Innovation Fund in 2021 has allowed a new way for us to support these businesses. In 2022, we aim to continue this growth pattern with a second raise of our EIS Innovation Fund.’

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