SCOTTISH ANGEL INVESTMENT DOUBLES IN 2021

Business angel syndicates in Scotland finished 2021 on a high, investing more than double than the previous year and beating the record set in 2019 by 70%.

Before the pandemic struck, 2019 had been a high point in the angel investment market in Scotland, with a record number of deals and a record £86m invested. The market slowed in 2020, as investors made a priority of supporting investee companies, but that has now rebounded.

In 2021, deals led by angel syndicate members of LINC Scotland secured £146m funding for young companies with high growth potential. Several of the LINC member syndicates reported their busiest year to date, with Archangels making 11 investments, totalling £23.7m – an increase of 44% from 2020.

Par Equity more than doubled its investment, deploying £25m, up from £12m in the previous year, with six new investments and follow-on finance for 21 companies. This took the firm past the £100m benchmark of capital invested since it started in 2008.

Meanwhile, Equity Gap reached a £25m investment milestone, following its most successful year to date, leveraging additional funding of over £100m for investee companies since its launch.

LINC Scotland membership includes 21 syndicates, which together invested around double in 2021 than in 2019, with contributions averaging £470,000 – 80% higher than in 2019.

The syndicates were also successful in bringing external co-investors into their deals – corporate investors, venture capital firms, other angel groups and other institutional investors – many from outside the UK.

These co-investors contributed 54% of the total amounts raised in 2021, with an average investment of £1.7m – almost double the 2019 level. Support from public sector investors, chiefly Scottish Enterprise, stayed constant throughout this period, at approximately 20% of the total.

In a strong year for recycling of capital across the sector, LINC syndicates also benefited from two exceptional exits.

Par Equity exited its investment in Current Health in October, when the company was acquired by US-listed Best Buy for $400m. Par led the company’s first external investment round in 2016, and ultimately achieved an 80% internal rate of return for the syndicate.

The trade sale in December of Spoonfed to 365 Retail Markets, backed by Providence Equity Partners, delivered returns for 31 of Equity Gap’s members, including seven of the original founder members.

Mark Sterritt(pictured above), UK network director for Scotland at the British Business Bank, said: “The exits of Current Health and Spoonfed will help bring further liquidity into the market and hopefully result in further investments later this year and beyond.

Angel investment has historically been concentrated in London and the South East of England, but the sector is growing in importance in Scotland and has been very beneficial in supporting some of the country’s key sectors.”