Investment opportunities
Scotland is alive with investment opportunities in life sciences – and there are excellent examples of financial exits.
This not only demonstrates the high calibre of operations within the rapidly maturing Scottish life sciences community, but also highlights that encouraging exit routes are available through marketable Scottish innovation.
For more information on life science investor opportunities in Scotland, contact us.
Young Company Finance (YCF) special report - Life Sciences in Scotland
Compiled by YCF and published in May 2007, this report features in-depth articles and research on subjects such as investment trends, financing commercialisation and developing sales channels.
Download the Young Company Finance (YCF) special report (PDF, 5.3Mb)
Early stage investment opportunities
Scotland has a long track record of developing successful life sciences academic and commercial breakthrough activity. There are many early stage investment opportunities.
Early stage discovery and development is also supported by a number of government initiatives. Life Sciences is the largest single recipient of Proof of Concept funding. Scottish Health Innovations Limited has been established to commercialise innovations from the NHS in Scotland. Intermediary Technology Institute (ITI) Life Sciences, a unique Scottish initiative aimed at addressing opportunities in the global marketplace.
Angel investment networks
Scotland has a strongly supportive angel investment network linking into theScottish Seed Fund and Scottish Co-investment fund.
Recent life sciences investments include:
- Aquapharm BioDiscovery
- Touch Bionics
- Biopta
- Giltech
- Lamellar Biomedical
Venture capital
Many international venture capital organisations have invested in Scotland. Scottish based venture funds include:
Institutional investors
Scotland is a leading European financial centre and is home to some of the world’s leading financial institutions, including:
Significant deal flow and successful exits
Recent successful Scottish IPOs include:
- Ardana
- ProStrakan
- IDMoS
- Optos
Indigenous Scottish companies have attracted significant interest and investment, sometimes leading to beneficial merger and acquisition deals.
Where acquisitions have occurred, organisations maintain their bases in Scotland and have made further significant investment. Recent examples are:
- Q-One Biotech, being acquired by BioReliance, which was subsequently acquired by Invitrogen.
- Haptogen have recently been acquired by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.
- Biosil was acquired by MediCor.
- Inveresk was acquired by Charles River Laboratories.
- Inverness Medical was acquired by Johnson and Johnson.
Scotland also has a wealth of experienced management and professional advisors.