Investing in Ambition, Scotland’s Risk Capital Market: Benchmark Analysis 2025

The purpose of this report is to provide a detailed analysis of Scotland’s risk capital market for the calendar year 2025. The report is the latest in a series that tracks the flow of equity investment into Scottish headquartered companies, setting Scotland’s performance alongside the other nations and regions of the UK. This evidence base is used to inform Scottish Enterprise’s interventions to support ambitious early-stage high growth companies, which in turn, supports the continued growth of the Scottish risk capital market.  

Analysis is based on Beauhurst data and deals tracked via their platform. The report seeks to capture information on as many deals as possible rather than just announced deals, recognising that there will still be undisclosed deals and incomplete information. This means that totals reported in earlier years will change as deals (not previously disclosed) are added to the database. Therefore, comparison between figures in this report and previously published reports is not recommended due to revisions in the number of historical deals. 

Globally, investors showed greater selectivity in 2025, prioritising quality, proven revenue models and differentiated technology. This resulted in fewer, larger deals taking place, a trend evident in the UK, where investment value grew by 4% from £23.38 billion to £24.39 billion, despite deal count falling by 7% from 6,409 to 5,982.

The Scottish market was significantly influenced by a single £445 million deal into Edinburgh-based battery energy storage company Fidra Energy. This helped Scotland achieve a record £1.15 billion in investment, an increase of 26%. Deal count also increased, albeit to a much lesser extent, up by 2% from 351 to 359 deals.  

While the Fidra Energy deal was undoubtedly extremely impactful, many Scottish market strengths were not bolstered by this deal. Scotland’s underlying market showed resilience, suggesting continued early-stage pipeline strength. Scottish university spinout companies also continued to attract significant investment, despite a UK-wide decline in this part of the market.

Moreover, Scotland demonstrated a strong pipeline of opportunities, with a number of 2025’s equity-raising companies blending AI with strategically important sectors, focusing on areas of competitive advantage consistent with Scottish Enterprise’s scaling innovation and energy transition missions, as well as the Scottish Government’s high-growth, high-innovation industries. 

Despite these strengths, challenges remain in the global risk capital market, to which Scotland is not immune. The fundraising environment is increasingly difficult for companies, with exit volumes subdued, valuations falling and strong metrics more important than ever to investors. These challenges have an even more fundamental impact on women and other under-represented groups seeking investment.

The report does not make any recommendations.