The latest £192m funding round for Skyscanner has made the Edinburgh company Scotland’s second ‘unicorn’, according to KPMG’s quarterly report on venture capital trends. The travel search engine has joined fantasy sports platform FanDuel in the elite band of companies with a valuation topping $1billion (£695m), says the report. It says VC fundraising in the UK in the first quarter of 2016 was down 14 per cent on the previous quarter, with 105 deals totalling $1.26billion (£880m), but up five per cent on the same period in 2015. Phil Charles, head of KPMG Enterprise in Scotland, said: “Given the liquidity in the funding market and the relatively healthy investor appetite for backing exciting businesses.... I expect to see significant funds being deployed throughout 2016. It is likely that uncertainty surrounding the UK’s relationship with Europe is having some effect on markets and this should probably be expected to impact next quarter’s data.”
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