Archangels lead £3.3m investments during lockdown

Sarah Hardy of Archangels

Archangels, the Edinburgh-based business angel investment syndicate, said on Tuesday it has led investment of £3.3 million in innovative Scottish companies during the coronavirus lockdown.

“Archangels’ Q2 deals data released today reveals that three of our portfolio companies – Calcivis, BDD and Reactec – have received follow-on funding during the period, with £1.9m of the committed investment coming from Archangels’ syndicate members and the remaining £1.4m from Scottish Investment Bank (the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise) and from the staff and management teams at the companies themselves,” said Archangels in a statement.

“These were all planned growth capital rounds into established portfolio companies aimed at supporting product innovation, capital expenditure and further commercialisation of their products.

“They demonstrate Archangels’ long term approach to supporting its portfolio even during times of economic uncertainty.”

Sarah Hardy, Head of New Investments at Archangels, said: “We recognise that many of the solutions to the challenges we are all currently facing will come from the community of innovative tech and life sciences companies that it has long been Archangels’ mission to support.

“These entrepreneurs and innovators are carrying out important work, some of it directly related to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder alongside them.”

Archangels-led investments in Scottish tech and life sciences companies during 2020 now total £9.5 million.

Edinburgh Bioquarter-based Calcivis has developed a novel imaging technology that enables clinicians to visualise active dental decay early, when it can be stopped and potentially reversed.

Glasgow-based Bio-Images Drug Delivery (BDD) provides bespoke oral drug delivery products to pharmaceutical companies.

Reactec has innovated monitoring technologies to help protect employees from harmful exposure to vibration; hand and arm vibration syndrome (HAVS).