Puma pounces on Scotland’s growing tech firms – Daily Business

A private equity firm is setting up an Edinburgh base to capitalise on what it sees as a growing hub for innovation and technology.

Investment director Ben Leslie, who joined Puma in 2018 from Deloitte,  has moved to Scotland to head up the Queen Street office of Puma Private Equity after six years growing its operations in London.

The firm, which is rebranding as Puma Growth Partners, has already been active north of the border and Mr Leslie led the £11m Series A funding round for Edinburgh-based fintech company Aveni.

He noted that Edinburgh alone has attracted more than $1 billion (£750 million) of investment in the past five years while the number of new technology companies in Scotland jumped by more than a fifth last year.

Mr Leslie said Scottish businesses have struggled to raise funds within their own market, often having to go much further to receive the backing they need to grow. He sees more opportunities in fintech, artificial intelligence and energy transition.

“At Puma, we are committed to supporting scale-up businesses in Scotland and we’ve been really encouraged by the potential investment opportunities we’ve seen to date,” he said.

“There’s a strong ecosystem of active early-stage investors in the Scottish market and having led Aveni’s £11m Series A round earlier this year, we’re excited to see what’s next as we build relationships with growing businesses across the region.”