Paul Munn, managing partner, and Andrew Noble

Par Equity is celebrating a record-breaking year despite the challenges inflicted by Covid-19 on much of the economy.

Par deployed more than £17m of capital – 48% more than in the previous year – into its portfolio companies, which in turn raised a further £26m from third party investors. It was the “lead investor” for more than 75% of those transactions.  

The current portfolio of 40 companies includes Current Health (Edinburgh and Boston), Cumulus (Belfast), Nova Pangea Technologies (Middlesbrough), Integrated Graphene (Stirling) and Novosound (Glasgow).   

Par has invested in 62 companies since it launched in 2008. Collectively, those companies have raised £266m from investors.

Andrew Noble, partner, said: “We recognise the challenges that the pandemic has brought to many people across the UK, so it’s especially rewarding to be creating jobs through our investment activities.  Employment within our portfolio companies increased from a total of 650 people to 885 in a year.”