Scottish impact investor, SIS Ventures, is launching a second round of fundraising with the aim of attracting up to £5 million to scale up its support for Scotland’s high impact potential early-stage businesses.

SIS Ventures’ Impact First fund seeks to provide investors with the opportunity to make returns on Scottish businesses whose social and environmental impact is aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

The fund has already invested £1.3m into eight high impact and high growth potential businesses and continues to deploy £5m Scottish Government funding into a pipeline of businesses.

Each of these is led by a unique mission including, for example, providing earlier diagnosis for life-limiting diseases such as cancer (Dxcover Limited) and Parkinson’s (Manus Neurodynamica), tackling some of the world’s most serious online harm issues (Cyan Forensics), encouraging the switch to electric vehicles through on-street charging points (Trojan Energy), and helping pharma deliver better patient health outcomes (Talking Medicines).

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This second Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) fundraise presents an opportunity for investors to support both existing Impact First investees to grow through follow-on funding rounds, as well as invest in new, early-stage businesses.

Minimum investment sought is £20,000, with each investor committed to at least six businesses over a period of seven to ten years.

Speaking about the Impact First fund, David Ovens, Chair SIS Ventures, said: “Using the power of business and innovation to help address society’s greatest challenges and needs, a global culture shift is underway to build a more impactful and inclusive economy.”

He added: “The societal issues of today require ever more innovative solutions. At SIS Ventures we believe that impactful businesses, those that combine profit with purpose, are the future and should be supported with the full power of the investor community.

“Impact First is developing an impressive track record, a strong pipeline and a worthy reputation as the leading investor in this space. I hope that the fundraising will be well supported by those who share our mission to create an impact economy.”

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