Partners: Scottish Co-investment Fund
The Scottish Co-investment Fund (SCF) is a £72 million equity investment fund established by Scottish Enterprise, partly funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), to invest from £100,000 to £1 million in company finance deals of up to £2 million.
Unlike a standard venture capital (VC) fund or a business angel, the SCF does not find and negotiate investment deals on its own; instead it forms contractual partnerships with active VC fund managers, business angels and business angel syndicates from the private sector. Aitua became a partner in June 2008.
Aitua finds the opportunity, negotiates the terms of the deal and offers to invest its own equity cash. If the opportunity needs more money than the partner can provide, Aitua can call on SCF to co-invest alongside on equal terms. Aitua determines how much the SCF can invest in any new deal; however, the SCF cannot invest more than Aitua does.