Scotland’s business angels make Covid-19 pledge as investment hits new high

Scotland’s business angels have pledged to continue backing promising start-ups and scale-ups during the coronavirus outbreak after investment hit new heights over the past year.

Linc Scotland director David Grahame said figures showed that during the year its member groups invested in 114 deals. Picture: Chris James

New figures show that business angel syndicates north of the Border participated in deals which invested in excess of £100 million in young entrepreneurial companies in the financial year to the end of March. This marks a record for the syndicates, which are members of Linc Scotland, the national business angel association.

The first quarter of 2020 was the busiest period for the angel syndicates, with 30 deals raising some £27m of investment.

Linc said that although the Covid-19 pandemic may impact angel investing, the syndicates were working with their portfolio companies to help them through the crisis, and remain determined to continue investing in promising start-ups and scale-up businesses across the country.

Niki McKenzie, joint managing director at Edinburgh-based Archangels, which is believed to be the oldest business angel investment syndicate in the world, highlighted investments in four companies in the first quarter of 2020.

She said: “Each of these businesses is a shining example of home-grown Scottish innovation that is succeeding on a worldwide stage. We are both proud and willing to offer our continued support to these businesses as they scale up.

“These are difficult and uncertain times for all of our portfolio companies, but we remain confident that businesses like these – led by change makers and entrepreneurs – will play an important role in driving the Scottish economy forward when the time comes.”

Kevin Grainger, chairman of Eos Advisory, added: “Even in the middle of the current pandemic we take a sustained view with our investments and look for longer term global potential.

“This is reflected in our current deal flow and we are close to completing our largest investment deal yet, which will be Europe’s first cancer drug accelerator.

“Whilst all businesses are being affected by the current situation most of our portfolio are coping well and indeed some, such as ILC Therapeutics, have significant opportunities to contribute to the fight against Covid-19.”

Linc Scotland’s figures show that during the year its member groups invested in 114 deals, raising a total of £103m for 87 separate companies.

Director David Grahame said: “Linc Scotland’s members currently support several hundred high-potential companies across most of the priority sectors identified by Scottish Government. Collectively these businesses have created thousands of high-quality jobs, predominantly in Scotland.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to scotsman.com and enjoy unlimited access to Scottish news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Joy Yates

Editorial Director