Archangels, the Edinburgh-based business angel investment group, led investments totalling a record £23.7m in promising Scottish tech and life sciences companies during 2021.

In a packed year of corporate activity for Archangels, the 11 investments, totalling £23.7m (2020: £16.3m), represented an increase of 44% over 2020. They included a £1m+ initial investment in BioCaptiva, which is developing BIOCAPTOR, a revolutionary medical device that will transform liquid biopsy testing and enhance cancer detection.

In total, Archangels invested £11.8m (2020: £8.1m) of Archangels members’ cash during 2021, up 46% on 2020. Co-investors during 2021 included: Scottish Enterprise; Maven Capital Partners; Par Equity; Sands Capital Ventures; and NVM.

David Ovens, Joint Managing Director at Archangels, said:

“Our 2021 investment performance demonstrates our ongoing commitment to investing in promising Scottish businesses that are at the leading edge of innovation in their field.

“Scotland’s tech and life sciences markets are as vibrant as they have ever been and there’s no shortage of great ideas coming from Scottish inventors, change-makers and innovators.”

Highlights for 2021 for Archangels and its portfolio companies included:

Calcivis, the Edinburgh-based dental technology company, completed a £1.52m equity fund raise, led by Archangels and also featuring investment from Scottish Enterprise and Lynx Financial in preparation of the US launch of the world’s first biotechnology-based dental imaging system. The company also appointed life sciences expert, Dr John Brown, as Non-executive Chairman and Vancouver-based Michael Crane as a Non-executive Director.

Archangels co-founder, Mike Rutterford, received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the UKBAA Angel Investment Awards, recognising his 29-year-long contribution to business angel investing in the UK, alongside that of his Archangels co-founder, Barry Sealey.

Archangels led an initial £1m investment in Scottish bio-tech company, BioCaptiva, which has developed a novel next generation “liquid biopsy” technology device that could revolutionise the early diagnosis and monitoring of difficult to detect cancers. Scottish Enterprise were co-investors in the seed funding round for the Edinburgh University spin-out. BioCaptiva also announced the appointments of Dr Frank M Armstrong as Chairman and Dr Stephen Little as a Non-executive Director and Investment Director.