Investing Women Angels (IWA) is backing a series of investment rounds that will raise more than £4.5m for four female-founded companies in Scotland. 

The companies, which will be announced in further detail later in the year, add to the eight female-founded companies the angel group has backed in the past 18 months.

Those businesses, all supported by IWA’s sister company AccelerateHER through growth programmes, international missions, angel mentoring and connections to global investors, have now raised over £6m collectively.

The latest to secure support includes Cytochroma, an innovative life sciences company which IWA initially supported as part of a 2021 investment round.

Kate Cameron, Cytochroma’s CEO and founder, commented: “I would not be here today without the backing of IWA.

“The additional support, training, networks and trade missions provided through AccelerateHER, IWA’s sister company, have been incredible in progressing our journey. 

“This is a phenomenal group delivering big impacts in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, especially for female-founded businesses like mine.” 

Marking its 10^th anniversary today, IWA became Scotland’s first all-female business angel syndicate in 2014 when launched by its founder Jackie Waring.

The group has focused on supporting women to help address the equity investment gap between female-founded companies and those run by men. Over the past decade IWA has backed 26 such businesses helping them leverage over £55m in investment.

Rhona Campbell, chair of IWA, said: “It’s very exciting for us to be marking our 10-year anniversary by announcing that we’ll be supporting a further four female-founded businesses in Scotland.

“I’ve been proud to be involved with Jackie since the inception of IWA which, along with AccelerateHER, has both pioneered and raised the bar for investment in female founders and helped connect them with other investors across the Scottish ecosystem.”