The amount of venture capital money going into Scottish companies rose by more than a third in the first half of this year as investor sentiment picked up across the UK.
The latest Private Enterprise Venture Pulse report from accountancy group KPMG shows that 23 firms in Scotland shared funding of £85.3 million during the second quarter, taking the total for the first six months of the year to £184m. That was a 39% increase on the first half 2023 even though the total number of companies receiving funding remained static at 42.
Stand-out deals during the second quarter included £13m for Edinburgh-based Prothea Technologies, which is developing technologies to "see and treat" diseased lung tissue in a single procedure. Stirling-based iGii, formerly known as Integrated Graphene, raised £8.8m and Dundee biotech Outrun TX secured £10m.
“We’re seeing continued investment in firms across Scotland, and I hope that we continue to see investment of a similar or larger size for the remainder of 2024," said Amy Burnett, KPMG's senior manager in Scotland for private enterprise.
“Whilst we are not experiencing a big uptick in VC money deployed, I remain hopeful for a calmer second half to the year now we have a new UK government in place. I’m pleased to see continued investment in exciting technologies in Scotland, that are solving real world problems, and I look forward to watching these business grow.”
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Across the whole of the UK, the survey showed that the amount of money raised in the second quarter was more than double the total in the first three months of this year.
After a quiet opening to the year that saw just £3 billion in VC funding raised by UK businesses — the lowest amount seen in 22 quarters — activity picked up dramatically in the second quarter with £6.9bn raised. This was also up year-on-year on the £4.7bn raised in the second quarter of 2023 as investor sentiment improved, according to data supplied by Pitchbook.
Graeme Williams, head of corporate finance M&A in Scotland for KPMG, added: “Scotland’s figures continue to be strong in the second quarter and with more stable market conditions, and hopefully investment levels continue to grow during the final two quarters of the year.”
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