News
Scottish Venture Capital Investment Soars in Q3 2025
Venture capital investors have ramped up their support for start-up and scale-up companies in Scotland, signalling their appetite to back companies engaged in a range of sectors, from technology and life sciences to energy and manufacturing.
According to the latest KPMG Private Enterprise Venture Pulse report, venture capital investment increased in the third quarter of 2025 with Scottish businesses raised £116.1 million – up more than 200% from £36.2 million in Q2.
Source: DIGIT
Push to strengthen Scotland-India business ties
As Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer holds high-level talks in India to strengthen UK-India bilateral ties, Neil Lal, chairman and president of The Indian Council of Scotland and United Kingdom, is simultaneously leading a critical trade and diplomacy mission to promote Scotland and the UK as premier destinations for Indian investment, entrepreneurship, and skilled migration.
Source: Scottish Financial News
Ministers welcome new loans that will ‘kickstart’ business innovation
Ministers have welcomed plans by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) for a new type of loan for high-growth businesses, saying it will help “kickstart” business innovation in Scotland.
From next year, Scottish firms will be able to secure borrowing against the value of their intellectual property (IP), instead of traditional assets such as buildings and machinery.
Source: STV
Scots University Projects Receive Gov Funding to Go Commercial
The Scottish government is awarding projects across ten Scottish universities with the £2.95m Proof of Concept Fund to support harnessing their ground-breaking academic ideas for commercial use.
Source: DIGIT
Innovation must remain ‘Scotland’s greatest export’, says business secretary
Innovation must remain “Scotland’s greatest export”, business secretary Richard Lochhead has said as the first National Innovation Week begins. More than 80 events are set to take place across the country over the next five days, with more than 200 delegates expected to attend an Innovation Summit in Edinburgh on Thursday.
Source: STV News
Scotland Attracts New Early-Stage Investors Despite Challenging Market Conditions
Scotland could receive billions of pounds in tech investment after the launch of an AI Growth Zone, the UK Government says.
Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said that this initiative would position Scotland at the "forefront of the UK's technological revolution".
Source: Scottish Financial News
Midlothian’s Ambitious Plans for Inclusive & Sustainable Economic Growth
Midlothian councillors have approved two key documents that set out the Midlothian Council Economic Development Service‘s roadmap for delivering inclusive and sustainable economic growth over the next two years.
Equity investment in Scotland’s smaller businesses bounces back
Smaller firms in Scotland saw increased levels of equity investment in 2024, as London became less dominant and the wider UK saw a collective decline.
That's according to the British Business Bank’s annual Small Business Equity Tracker , which showed that equity deals involving small businesses in Scotland totalled £507m last year; up 28.3% on 2023’s £395m.
Source: Business Insider
Boosting university spin-outs
New initiatives taking advantage of Scotland’s world-class reputation as an innovation nation have been announced by the Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes. A new package of funding has been launched to help transform Scottish university and college spin-outs into growing businesses. Just over £4.5 million will be split across the Proof of Concept Fund, the Spinout Pipeline Project, the Entrepreneurial Campus Blueprint, and a scheme to help prepare future generations for careers in tech-based businesses.
Heriot-Watt aims to raise £35 million for new brewing and distilling centre
Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University is seeking to raise £35m in order to realise its vision of building a new Centre for Sustainable Brewing and Distilling (CSBD).
Source: Business Insider