David Ovens, Joint Managing Director, Ian Macleod, Chair and Niki McKenzie, Joint Managing Director | @jwilliamsonpix
£13.8m of that total came directly from Archangels’ members, a small increase on Archangels’ investment activity in 2023 (£13.4m). Archangels also returned around £12.5m to investors through exit related income and dividends.
The year saw Archangels add Bead BioPharma to its portfolio through an oversubscribed £900k funding round. The syndicate also made several key follow-on investments to support the scaling of its portfolio companies, including three major series A funding rounds together totalling £18m, including:
• Biotech firm Calcivis, which secured £5m to roll-out its cutting-edge dental technology;
• Nanomaterial producer iGii, which raised £8.8m to accelerate growth and scale manufacturing capability;
• Training software management platform Administrate, which raised £3.05m to expand its market reach.
Other external funding rounds included:
• Biotech company Cytomos which recently raised £5m to scale up production of its cell analysis technology;
• Drug formulation and clinical trials company BDD Pharma which raised £2m to support; expansion and the opening of a new lab facility in Glasgow.
Co-investors on deals during 2024 included Investment Fund for Scotland (managed by Maven Capital), Scottish National Investment Bank, Old College Capital, Scottish Enterprise, Par Equity, Mercia and various Scottish angel syndicates.
David Ovens, Joint Managing Director at Archangels, said: “In line with previous year, 2024 has proved to be another very busy and successful year for Archangels. Despite operating within a very difficult investment environment, we are particularly pleased to have participated in three major Series A funding rounds, all of which are now well set to achieve their scaling ambitions. While the M&A market for early-stage companies, just like the investment environment, has remained challenging, there are signs that activity is picking up. We are quietly confident that we will see continued exit activity for our investors in 2025.”
