Scottish companies raised £100m in venture capital investment in 2018, with almost half (£47m) raised by healthcare companies, according to the latest Venture Pulse report, a quarterly analysis of global investment trends published by KPMG.
Across the UK, despite ongoing uncertainty around Brexit, investment bucked expectations, with just under £6bn invested in UK startups over the course of 2018.
Key deals in Scotland included £18m in funding for DYSIS Medical, which designs and manufactures imaging systems to detect medical conditions; £8.4m raised by Care Sourcer, a digital platform matching care seekers to care providers; and £6.2m raised by patient monitoring hardware developers, Snap40.
Commenting on the findings, James Kergon, head of deal advisory at KPMG in Scotland, said:
“2018’s investment figures in Scotland are testament to the robustness of its innovation ecosystem, with a number of multi-million-pound deals raised by pioneering companies in healthcare, and more specifically, healthtech. While the overall figure was lower than 2017’s record-breaking year, reaching the £100m mark is encouraging, considering the current climate for investors is less than perfect.
“Scotland’s healthtech industry fared particularly well in 2018, a symptom of the country’s strong reputation in the sector. Global investors continue to be attracted to good quality businesses across the UK, and overall, activity has remained healthy.
“While there was a drop off in investment in the final few months of the year – Scottish companies raised £9.8m in Q4 compared to £42 million the previous quarter – it remains to be seen if this is a natural drop off as investors plan for 2019, or a sign of investors growing cautious as we edge closer to the EU exit.”
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