Edinburgh-based VC Par Equity has invested £38 million in early-stage technology businesses across the North of the UK  in 2022, backing 27 companies in total, ten of which were new additions to the portfolio.

Continuing to build out its capabilities to lead and support Seed and Series A funding rounds, Par Equity focuses on business-to-business IP-rich technology solutions with industry transforming potential, typically in climate and health tech fields as well as industry 4.0.

Four of the new investments were based in Scotland, with the rest of them spread across the North of the UK. A further company, StretchSense, which has its headquarters in New Zealand, raised £4.2m to build out its European operations from Scotland.

Notable investments in Scotland include in Integrated Graphene, a 3D graphene foam output based in Stirling, and Novosound, the ultrasound sensor specialist based in Glasgow.

Andrew Noble, Partner at Par Equity, said: “These companies are reflective of the types of things we get excited about. They have developed game-changing and hard-to-replicate technologies with global applicability.

“As an economic zone, the North of the UK is the equivalent of the 8th largest country in Europe and the 20th largest in the world. We see enormous opportunity here. Our world-class academic institutions and technology hubs are awash with innovation and there’s a fantastic pipeline of talent emerging across the North of the UK.”

Paul Munn, Managing Partner at Par Equity, added: “A vibrant start-up and scale-up community is vital to the economic future of the UK and we hope we are playing a small part in the Government’s important Levelling Up plans.”

“The portfolio is making fantastic progress despite the wider macroeconomic challenges and, for the global technology industry, 2022 was a significant reset, book-ended by polarising conditions. Fortunately, our localised, early-stage investment strategy has protected us from some of this volatility and we ended 2022 in good shape and with a great deal of momentum.

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“Now is the time to be in the market and investing and we’re excited about identifying and supporting further technologies and talent in 2023.”

In addition to its venture capital activity, Par Equity continued to build out its commercial forestry and natural capital solutions. In 2021, the firm partnered with Aviva Investors on a woodland creation and peatland restoration scheme, a project which is forecast to capture more than 1.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, and in 2022 it acquired a further five sites across Scotland.

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