Despite the uncertainty and volatility of the financial year to March 2025, Scotland’s angel investors maintained their support for Scotland’s emerging high-potential SMEs, according to the latest annual data from Angel Capital Scotland.
Figures from Scotland’s national association for business angels show that the number of investments fell slightly to 91 from 94 in 2023-24, but the value of private capital committed increased from £100.6m to £106.4m, reflecting an increasing average deal size. Public sector co-investment provided a further £25.6m.
There was a wide range in the value of individual deal sizes from around £20k to over £4m.
The support was heavily focused on companies with proprietary intellectual property in key technology sectors, with life sciences / health, digital / software, and enabling technologies such as photonics, accounting for almost two thirds of the total. The energy, renewable and environmental sectors also continued to grow.
Geographic distribution was nationwide including Highlands & Islands and Southern Scotland, but the national hotspot continued to be Edinburgh and Lothian.
Further insights into the angel investment landscape, including updated data from Angel Capital Scotland, will be presented at the Young Company Finance Conference 2025, where ACS returns as lead sponsor. The event will also explore the evolving mix of finance available to early-stage and scaling companies across Scotland.
David Grahame, executive director at Angel Capital Scotland, commented “Business angels necessarily take a long-term view rather than overreacting to current events and it is good to see our members actually further increasing their commitment to supporting Scotland’s most exciting young companies, many of whom are showcased at the YCF Conference. At the same time, the increasing range of institutional and other co-investors is an encouraging sign of a maturing ecosystem.”
About Angel Capital Scotland
Following rebranding in 2023, Angel Capital Scotland (ACS) is the successor organisation to LINC Scotland, the national association for business angels in Scotland, with a membership that includes most of the best-known structured angel groups or syndicates which collectively account for around two thousand private investors.
A full list of the ACS member syndicates can be found on its website at: https://angelcapital.scot/member-directory/
ACS member syndicates make up almost half of the private sector partners of Scottish Enterprise’s Scottish Co-Investment Fund and have led a significant proportion of the investments made by the Fund.
In the international arena LINC was an invited contributor to market development initiatives in several European countries, Australasia, the Americas and the MENA region. LINC was also the first non-American angel network invited to contribute to the proceedings of the Angel Capital Association of America.
