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Scottish Equity Partners [2023]
Finance and Risk Capital
Impact for scaleups
12
UK companies backed
29%
Follow-on investments
58%
Investments outside of London
7
Growth-stage investments
Key sectors
Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) is a late stage venture and growth equity investor focused on technology and technology-enabled companies based in the UK and Ireland, and selectively in other parts of Europe. It has offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London. Over the last 20 years it has invested in more than 160 companies.
The firm invests between £5m to £25m but also funds larger deals, co-investing with others, including its own fund investors. Between the period of January 2016 to June 2023, the firm has participated in 17 fundraisings for 12 scaling businesses.
SEP plays an active and supportive role in the growth and development of its portfolio companies. It has a strong track record in supporting its portfolio companies with talent acquisition, building leadership capability, and assisting international growth. The firm describes itself as a specialist in supporting businesses to internationalise and to increase their revenues from less than £10m to £100m and beyond.
Its current portfolio generate over £1.5bn of revenues and employs more than 6,500 people. Scaleups in its current portfolio include open source software company Tyk, cloud communications specialist Content Guru, regtech FundApps, handicraft digital platform LoveCrafts and the fintech Totally Money.
The firm, which is a signatory to the Women in Finance Charter, has a 38% female representation in its senior management positions. It provides financial support to the Strathclyde Entrepreneurs Fund, which provides early stage investment in companies and ventures run by University of Strathclyde staff, students and alumni. It publishes an annual “Investing Responsibly” report in which it benchmarks its portfolio companies’ performance on ESG issues.
