For a long time Scotland has enjoyed active angel investors, however, to see that 2021 was one of the busiest years for many syndicates is great news. Whilst Harper Macleod’s entrepreneurial team were fortunate to see continued activity in 2020, there is no doubt of a real uptick in 2021 with our stats showing a 24% increase in deal activity.  For us we see the tech sector continuing to receive the majority of the funds – 60% of our investment deals were in the tech sector.

What I think is also encouraging is that so far we see the growth trend only continuing. The team are currently working on 10 different investments, again with the majority being in the tech sector.

The issue does remain of companies with male founders receiving the vast majority of the investment funds, however, I think there is reason to be hopeful here as there is ever more organisations coming into help female entrepreneurs. Also, whilst we are far off reporting a growing trend in our investment deals with female founders we are definitely seeing more female entrepreneurs getting closer to securing the funding they need.