Scotland's risk capital market report: benchmark analysis 2025

1 June 2026 |  3-minute read

Our new risk capital market report shows that Scotland achieved a record-breaking year in 2025, with £1.15 billion invested into high-growth companies, up 26% from £906 million in 2024. 

The report – 'Scotland’s risk capital market: benchmark analysis 2025' – shows that Scotland’s record value was supported by a £445 million megadeal into Edinburgh-based battery energy storage company, Fidra Energy. This accounted for 39% of Scotland’s total investment value and highlights Scotland’s ability to attract transformational capital into strategically important opportunities, aligned with the energy transition.

Scotland recorded 359 equity deals in 2025, up 2% from 351 in 2024. Meanwhile, UK deal numbers fell by 7% to 5,982, despite a 4% increase in investment value, which reached £24.39 billion – a pattern driven by increased megadeal activity.

The results reflect a global 'flight to quality', where investors backed fewer, larger deals and placed greater emphasis on strong fundamentals, proven revenue models and differentiated technology. Despite these tougher conditions, Scotland’s performance stood out as the sole location, amongst the UK’s 12 nations and regions, to see increases in both investment value and deal volume – underlining the strength of the country’s innovation-driven pipeline.

Scotland: a prime investment location

Scotland’s relative position also strengthened. It ranked fourth of the UK’s nations and regions for both investment value (up from fifth) and deal count (up from sixth), making Scotland the top-performing nation/region outside the Golden Triangle (London, the South East and East of England) on both measures. 

Beyond the headline results, Scotland’s underlying market (deals below £10 million) showed resilience and pipeline strength. Underlying investment value fell by 3% to £357 million, while deal numbers rose 4% to 333. Encouraging momentum was visible at the very earliest stages, typically below £2 million, which saw modest increases in both investment and deal activity.

An attractive market with links to innovation and academia

Scotland also continued to showcase world-class university-linked innovation. Scottish university spinouts raised £194 million across 56 deals in 2025. This places Scotland behind only the Golden Triangle for spinout investment value, and behind only London and the South East for spinout deal count. 

The report also highlights Scotland’s standout investor mix. Angel networks in Scotland were the most active in the UK for both the value and volume of participation. Scotland was placed behind only London and the East of England for the number of deals involving a Venture Capital or Private Equity investor – showing powerful foundations for early-stage growth.