Building the early-stage market in Scotland

Scottish Enterprise supports Scotland’s most ambitious companies, working with them to innovate, win investment and gain access to international markets.

The organisation has a mission’s approach focused on creating an internationally competitive energy transition in Scotland, scaling the impact of Scotland’s innovation strengths into high growth industries of the future, and driving capital investment to deliver a step change in Scotland’s productivity.

As part of this, Scottish Enterprise is addressing the finance gap for early-stage high growth companies by delivering co-investment and equity funding solutions with partners through equity and debt investment solutions.

It remains Scotland’s most active investor in the early-stage market by deal participation and the fourth most active in the UK. Recent deals have seen:

• Pioneering business Beta Bugs secure a £2.1million investment from TRICAPITAL Angels alongside Scottish Enterprise. This will enable Beta Bugs to further accelerate its development into an international player in Black Soldier Fly genetics and scale up production of eggs and juvenile larvae to supply to insect farming operations.
• Aurora Avionics secure a £500,000 investment to accelerate its mission of revolutionising space launch guidance systems. Backed by Kelvin Capital, Gabriel and Scottish Enterprise, the Edinburgh-based company is looking to use the fresh injection of funds to further accelerate its rapid expansion. The funding will allow Aurora Avionics to hire new engineers, grow its operations at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh.
• Edinburgh-based biotech company Lenitek Ltd secure £700,000 investment. The company specialises in developing manufacturing technologies for lentiviral vectors, which are essential in the delivery of CAR-T cell and gene therapies – breakthrough treatments for cancer and genetic disorders. Equity Gap played a key role in connecting Lentitek with like-minded investors. Existing investors, including Gabriel-IS, Apollo Informal Investment, and Scottish Enterprise, joined Equity Gap and prominent private investors in providing the funding.
• MedTech innovator AirGlove Medical raise £500,000 in equity investment from lead investor Pulse Angels and Scottish Enterprise. The investment will enable the East-Kilbride based company to advance the commercial launch of its patented Airglove product that helps medical professionals successfully cannulate patients first time round.
• Biotech engineering company uFraction8 secure £3.4m in new investment following the completion of a funding round led by Foresight Group along with University of Edinburgh’s in-house venture investment fund Old College Capital, Scottish Enterprise, Alwyn Capital, Thia Ventures and a grant from the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development. Based in Falkirk with a fully-owned subsidiary in Poland, uFraction8’s microfiltration technology is designed to optimise cell and biomass production, offering a sustainable, energy-efficient alternative to traditional methods used in the production of food, feed, and bio-based products.