The State of Investment in Scotland
Investment into Scottish companies grew 108% from Q4 2024 to Q1 2025. We recently released our quarterly report, The State of UK Investment, and Scotland had some stand-out figures. With this in mind, we’re going to take a deeper look at investment into Scotland so far this year.
In this piece, we’ll examine what’s driving that growth. From the industries attracting the most capital, to the growth stage of companies receiving funding, and the gender split of founding teams — we break down the key trends shaping Scotland’s investment landscape in 2025. Plus, we spotlight the biggest deals this year so far, and consider what might be on the horizon for the rest of the year.
Scotland’s current investment landscape: how did Q1 2025 look?
Scotland has seen a strong start to 2025 in terms of investment, with a significant surge in funding despite a slight dip in deal volume. While the number of deals recorded in Q1 2025 declined by 6% compared to the previous quarter, the total value of investment into Scottish companies soared by an impressive 108%. Overall, Scotland captured 7% of all deals completed across the UK in Q1 2025.
Since the beginning of 2025 until 2 May 2025, when the data for this article was collected, Scottish companies have had £211m invested across 99 equity funding rounds. Let’s take a closer look at those investments.
The State of UK Investment: Q1 2025
Scotland’s biggest industries
So far in 2025, 99 Scottish companies have been through an equity funding round. Across those companies, 26% were in the application software industry, the proportion of any industry. However, looking at all UK funded companies in the same time span, application software represents 48% of the total, indicating that Scotland has a wider range of industries that are gaining investment compared to the UK.
Electronics hardware companies received the second most deals in Scotland (18% of the total) with 17 companies in this industry raising equity funding. This is reflected in our list of Scotland’s biggest deals of 2025 so far, where a number of companies deal in electronics hardware. This includes Neuranics; a company that’s developing highly sensitive magnetic sensing technology designed for advanced wearables, medical devices, and intuitive human-machine interaction.
Just behind this is renewable energy with 12 companies (12.4%), reflecting the growing importance of cleantech in the UK and in Scotland’s economy, as the country continues to position itself as a leader in the transition to net-zero.
Which company stage of evolution is seeing the most investment in Scotland?
Venture stage companies have led the way in Scotland’s funding activity since the start of the year. This contrasts with the broader UK picture for the quarter, where deals into Venture stage companies trailed behind Seed stage activity. This suggests that, in Scotland, investors are showing a stronger appetite for slightly larger, later-stage businesses compared to the UK overall.
Scotland’s Seed stage companies also performed strongly in Q1 2025, being the second-most prevalent stage of growth in companies that secured investment.
In our Q1 2025 report of all UK investment, we saw an interesting trend where early-stage startups continued to attract steady, if modest, funding — while later-stage companies raised fewer rounds, but much larger sums. And this is reflected in the Scottish investment market too.
We’re seeing a two-speed market: one where early-stage funding remains active but lean, while mid-to-late stage companies are securing fewer but significantly larger rounds.
Trends in female-founded Scottish companies
Since the start of 2025, 83% of funded Scottish companies have all-male founding teams. Just under 10% had an equal gender split in the founding team — and only 3.7% had an all-female founding team.
The figures are low, and historical data shows that the percentage of all-female founding teams is declining too. In Q4 2024 6.5% of funded Scottish companies had an all-female founding team, and 11.3% had an equal gender split.
If we look back even further, to 2024 as a whole, we can see an even wider gap. In 2024, 7.2% of funded Scottish companies had an all-female founding team, 9.6% was an equal gender split, and 79% was all-male.
Charles Stanley: Female Founders 2024
Scotland’s biggest deals of 2025 so far
Podfather
Amount raised in 2025: £1.10m
Total amount raised: £4.05m
Location: Edinburgh
Podfather is a software company specialising in cloud-based logistics and fleet management solutions. Incorporated in 2016 and headquartered in Edinburgh, the company offers tools designed to streamline and digitise delivery operations across various industries, such as logistics, construction, food and beverage, and healthcare.
The company raised £1.10m in March 2025 from the Investment Fund for Scotland (IFS) and Maven Investor Partners. This was the company’s sixth funding round.
Dxcover
Amount raised in 2025: £5.01m
Total amount raised: £17.4m
Location: Glasgow
Dxcover is a clinical-stage diagnostics company based in Glasgow. The business specialises in the early detection of multiple cancers. Founded in 2018 as a spinout from the University of Strathclyde, the company has developed a new approach that combines infrared spectroscopy with AI to analyse blood samples for cancer detection.
In January 2025, the company secured £5.01m from several investors, the company’s sixth fundraising event. Dxcover has also received seven grants totalling £4.82m.
Agricarbon UK
Amount raised in 2025: £6.00m
Total amount raised: £20.5m
Location: Perth and Kinross
Agricarbon is an environmental technology company. It creates large-scale, cost-effective ways of measuring soil organic carbon (SOC). Founded in 2018, the company aims to provide scalable soil carbon stock audits to support sustainable agriculture initiatives.
The company went through its fourth funding round in March 2025, securing £6.00m. It attended the Unlocking Ambition accelerator programme in 2020-2021.
Neuranics
Amount raised in 2025: £6.20m
Total amount raised: £8.09m
Location: Glasgow
Neuranics is a deeptech company that creates ultra-sensitive magnetic sensing technology for next-generation wearables, healthcare devices, and human-machine interfaces. Founded in 2021 as a joint spinout from the University of Glasgow and the University of Edinburgh, the company is developing Tunneling Magnetoresistance sensors capable of detecting minute biomagnetic signals from the human body.
The company went through its second fundraising event in March 2025, securing £6.20m. The company also received an £800k R&D grant in October 2024.
Lario Therapeutics
Amount raised in 2025: £6.35m
Total amount raised: £7.85m
Location: Edinburgh
Lario Therapeutics is an Edinburgh-based biopharmaceutical company developing precision medicines for severe neurological disorders, including epileptic conditions and Parkinson’s disease. Founded in 2021, the company focuses on genetically validated targets to create disease-modifying treatments.
In March 2025, the company raised £6.35m in its second funding round. This brought the company’s total raised to £7.85m.
CSignum
Amount raised in 2025: £6.44m
Total amount raised: £7.20m
Location: West Lothian
CSignum specialises in wireless underwater and underground communications using patented low-frequency electromagnetic (EM) field signaling. This technology supports various applications such as environmental monitoring, aquaculture, and critical infrastructure security by enabling connectivity between submerged sensors and surface networks.
In an effort to increase the size of its engineering team, the company went through its second fundraising event in April 2025, securing £6.44m.
EnteroBiotix
Amount raised in 2025: £6.86m
Total amount raised: £72.7m
Location: North Lanarkshire
EnteroBiotix is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company based in North Lanarkshire. It specialises in the development of full-spectrum microbiome therapeutics aimed at restoring and enhancing gut health, using proprietary technologies focused on creating orally administered therapies to treat conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and liver cirrhosis.
The company went through its tenth funding round in March 2025, securing another £6.86m, bringing its total equity raised to £72.7m.
IONATE
Amount raised in 2025: £13.6m
Total amount raised: £17.4m
Location: Edinburgh
IONATE is a deeptech company developing next-generation Hybrid Intelligent Transformers (HITs) to modernise electricity grids. Incorporated in 2019, IONATE’s technology supports the integration of renewable energy sources in the UK.
The company received an R&D grant in 2021 for £187k, and has raised a total £17.4m in equity funding. In January 2025, the deeptech company raised £13.6m, with participants including AlbionVC and Zero Carbon Capital.
BLK
Amount raised in 2025: £50.0m
Total amount raised: £50.1m
Location: Glasgow
BLK is a digital commodities marketplace that connects buyers, sellers, and shippers of raw materials and industrial supplies worldwide. Founded in 2018, the company offers a peer-to-peer platform that streamlines buying and selling by eliminating intermediaries. It also uses technologies like blockchain and AI to optimise logistics, forecast market trends, and facilitate carbon trading.
Overall the company has raised £50.1m. Tt raised £109k in 2021, and then raised a huge £50.0m earlier this year. This capital investment came from just one fund: Nimbus Capital.
Orbex
Amount raised in 2025: £55.0m
Total amount raised: £164m
Location: Highlands and Islands
Based in Moray, Orbex is an aerospace company that’s developing environmentally-friendly orbital launch services for the small satellite industry.
Incorporated in 2015, the company focuses on creating low-carbon, high-performance micro-launch vehicles. Their flagship rocket, Orbex Prime, is designed to provide dedicated and flexible launch solutions for small satellites.
Since 2015, the company has been through 10 rounds of funding. Most recently it raised £55.0m, with £20.0m of that coming from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. This brings the company’s total raised up to a sizeable £164m.
What’s next for Scottish investment?
If we discount the heights of post COVID-19 funding where 2021 and 2022 saw huge amounts of capital injected all across the UK, Scotland’s investment seems to be on the steady incline. This is particularly positive if we consider that the amount of investment and the number of deals is on the decline across the UK as a whole.
In fact, from 2023 to 2024, the amount invested into Scottish companies grew by 24%. And while the number of deals dropped by 9% year-on-year, it shows that there’s still investor confidence in Scottish companies — and even that investors are choosing to invest larger amounts.
Methodology
Data for this report was finalised on 2 May 2025.
To be included in our analysis, an investment must be:
- Dated between 1 January 2025 and 2 May 2025
- Some form of equity investment
- Secured by a non-listed Scottish company
Data includes announced and unannounced fundraisings combined.
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