Edinburgh-based investment syndicate Archangels said it invested more than £13.8m during 2023 in 11 of Scotland’s most promising early-stage tech and life science companies.

The total investment for 2023 among 11 businesses represents a small increase on Archangels’ investment activity in 2022 of £13.4 million.

The year saw Archangels make two new investments — including Bioliberty which secured £2.2 million to fund the development of its soft robotic glove and, more recently, 1nhaler which secured £2 million to develop its unique dry powder inhaler device.

Other portfolio businesses to receive follow-on funding included Cytomos, Calcivis, Administrate and BioCaptiva.

Co-investors on deals totalling £21.7 million during 2023 included British Business Bank, Scottish Enterprise, Par Equity, Mercia and various Scottish angel syndicates.

Earlier this year, Archangels bolstered its funding fire power through a £12 million co-investment agreement with British Business Investments via its Regional Angels Programme.

As well as funding some of Scotland’s brightest businesses, Archangels also scored a major success for its investors with the acquisition of medical AI company Blackford Analysis by Bayer, a global life science company.

Archangels joint managing director David Ovens said: “We started 2023 knowing that we faced a difficult macro-economic and geopolitical environment, and that proved to be the case.

“However, despite those challenges, Archangels has remained consistent and steadfast in our support for some of Scotland’s most exciting tech and life sciences companies.

“The exit we achieved through the sale of Blackford, our two new investments and our deal with BBI were all significant success stories for our investors.

“While the outlook for 2024 remains relatively unchanged from this year, we can look forward with confidence to another busy year of investment in Scotland’s buoyant tech and life science sectors.”