Further information

There is no shortage of information on access to finance, but many sources attempt to be all-encompassing, which (despite filtering options) can make them unwieldy for those with specific interests. In the following three examples, the regional filtering options fail to work properly, and include under Scotland some funders which have specific regional restrictions elsewhere. They can also include various initiatives which are not directly accessible by young company entrepreneurs for finance, for example treating tax relief programmes such as SEIS as ‘available support’.

In Scotland, the main source is the Scottish Government portal:
www.finance.scotland.gov.uk/types
Although this gives plenty of searchable information about a wide range of funding options, it is much less helpful on the equity investors (business angel groups, and institutional investors) who are most likely to feature in the plans of early stage high growth companies that are trying to commercialise technology.

There is a UK Government alternative, which provides a regional filter which includes Scotland, but can produce some bizarre results:
www.gov.uk/business-finance-support-finder

Business Finance for You has an impressive array of partners, but suffers from the same limitations:
www.businessfinanceforyou.co.uk/finance-finder

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) in association with BIS has produced some helpful Best Practice Guidelines covering such topics as investment readiness, and the right type of finance, but quotes only public sector support schemes rather than direct sources of finance.
www.icaew.com/cffsmefinance

The Scottish Investment Bank gives very helpful lists of business angel and institutional investors, with plenty of information about each, but self-evidently includes only those with which it has partnership agreements, and does not give details of investee companies:
www.scottish-enterprise.com/sib

Crowdfunding

NESTA has a searchable list of UK crowdfunding platforms:
www.crowdingin.com
and has also published a guide ‘Working the Crowd, “a short guide to crowdfunding and how it can work for you”.

The UK Crowdfunding Association’s website gives details of its members.
www.ukcfa.org.uk

Crowdsurfer gives international coverage, listing over 70 platforms available to ventures in the UK. www.crowdsurfer.co

Business angels

LINC Scotland lists its members, and gives links to their own websites:
www.lincscot.co.uk

It also offers a typical investment agreement and guidance notes, which should be studied by anyone intending to approach business angel groups for investment:
www.lincscot.co.uk/documents

There are some engaging videos giving tips from investors on Gust (“the official platform of the leading angel associations”):
videos.gust.com

The UK Business Angels Association gives a search facility with a regional option that includes Scotland. Not only does this exclude many of the angel groups active in Scotland, but it also includes all those investors who claim to invest on a ‘national’ basis but in fact only operate locally, not in Scotland.
www.ukbusinessangelsassociation.org.uk

Institutional investors

The British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA) Member Directory provides full details of each of its member firms, broken down by membership type, investment preferences, industry specialisations, and with relevant contact information, but charges £150 for one year’s subscription:
www.bvca.co.uk

With the UKTI, the BVCA established last year a Venture Capital Unit to promote early stage companies in the UK to non-UK based investors.

The European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA) gives a searchable online directory of its members, but the narrowest regional filter is for the UK as a whole, not Scotland:
www.evca.eu

The US equivalent, the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), provides much information, guidance, and statistics about the industry, but access to its membership directory requires an annual subscription of $325.
www.nvca.org