Edinburgh-based business angel syndicate Archangels has revealed it has led investments of £16.3 million in Scottish start-up and early-stage companies this year, topping its 2019 total of £13.4m by 22%, in spite of the challenges arising from the coronavirus pandemic.
The syndicate said it had, across 2020, directly invested £8.1m in companies in the technology and life sciences sectors and had been lead investor in 11 funding rounds. It added that this direct investment total for companies in these sectors was up from a corresponding figure of £7.4m in 2019.
Archangels also announced the appointment of Maureen Kinsler - who was chair of international intellectual property service provider Marks & Clerk until her recent retirement from this post - to its board of directors.
Archangels’ 2020 activity included two new company investments. The syndicate invested £715,000 in Hearing Diagnostics, which has developed an innovative system that it believes has the potential to revolutionise hearing tests globally. Archangels also invested £3.1m in Integrated Graphene, which has developed a manufacturing process which the syndicate noted enabled the firm to "produce high-performing, pure, 3D graphene foam directly on to any surface, at room temperature and in seconds".
Eric Young, chairman of Archangels, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic didn’t stop our portfolio companies from continuing to innovate and Archangels was determined to provide the support that they, and our new investee companies, needed."
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