Key rules and eligibility

Key rules

• The SCF investment in a company must not exceed £1 million in one tranche or in multiple rounds.
• The total deal size should not exceed £2 million (this will include any debt component).
• The investment must be at least matched pound for pound by the SCF partner.
• The terms obtained must be pari-passu with the SCF partner.
• Scottish Enterprise cannot hold in aggregate more than 29.9 per cent of the voting rights of a company.
• Public money cannot account for more than 50 per cent of the total risk capital funding in a deal.

In order to be eligible for investment from the Scottish Co-investment Fund, your company must:

• be incorporated;
• have less than 250 employees;
• have net assets less than £16 million;
• be doing a deal which involves the sale of an equity interest;
• be in an approved business sector – restrictions apply to SCF investments in the following sectors:
• dealing in land, commodities, futures, shares, securities and other financial instruments;
• banking, insurance, money lending, debt factoring, hire purchase financing and other financial activities;
• leasing or letting assets on hire;
• providing legal or accountancy services;
• property development;
• farming, forestry or market gardening;
• operating or managing hotels, nursing or residential care homes; and
• retail sectors if there is a trade displacement issue with other local businesses;
• fall within the EU definition of a Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) Read the definition of a SME on the European Commission website; and
• be predominantly located in Scotland – this is primarily measured by considering:
• location of main or head office;  
• location of majority of staff;
• country of registration of the operating company; and
• location of the majority of executive directors,