Syndicate shows strong backing for Scottish Technology

During 2022 investment syndicate Archangels provided funding of £13.4m to some of Scotland’s most promising early-stage tech and life science companies. 

Total investment figures for last year among 11 businesses were 14% up on 2022 (11.8m), with £1.5m secured by new portfolio addition Earth Blox for expansion of global reach and further development of its no-code Earth Observation (EO) cloud-based SaaS.

Other businesses to receive follow-on funding included Integrated Graphene, Cytomos, Hearing Diagnostics, Administrate and BioCaptiva. Co-investors on deals totalling £27.0m during 2022 included Scottish Enterprise, Par Equity, Mercia and various Scottish angel syndicates. Archangels also generated a significant gain on the sale of portfolio company Optoscribe during the year.

Said to be the world’s longest continually running investment syndicate, Archangels marked its 30th anniversary last year with a report by the University of Glasgow’s Adam Smith Business School highlighting that the £161m invested by Archangels since 1992 has generated up to £1.4 billion Gross Value Added (GVA) for the Scottish economy and directly created 3,647 high-skilled jobs.

David Ovens, Joint Managing Director at Archangels, said: “2022 has been a big year for Archangels and our members. Thirty years of investing in and supporting Scotland’s life science and technology sectors is a milestone of which we’re all very proud. Despite ongoing volatility in the economy, we have continued to see strong demand for funding from innovative early-stage businesses with the ambition to grow and scale. While the economic outlook remains challenging for 2023, we are confident that we’ll continue to find opportunities for our members to back exciting and innovative young companies.”

Archangels aims to deliver returns for its investors while harnessing their experience and networks to fuel the success of Scotland’s entrepreneurs and innovators in technology and life sciences. The syndicate currently has around 120 members invested in a portfolio of 21 early-stage companies.

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