Puma Private Equity expands into Scotland and rebrands to Puma Growth Partners

The team in Scotland will be led by investment director Ben Leslie, who has relocated back to Scotland after spending six years helping to grow the Puma business in London.

The region is fast becoming a hub for innovation and technology. In the last five years, Edinburgh alone has attracted more than $1 billion (c. £760 million) of investment and the number of new technology companies in Scotland jumped by more than a fifth last year.

Having led Aveni’s £11m Series A round, one of the largest into a Scottish business this year, this expansion marks Puma’s commitment to the growing scale-up economy in Scotland.

The investment team, based at new offices at Queen Street in Edinburgh, will be focused on backing management teams across Scotland who have a clear vision for building successful, expertly run businesses. In particular, the team see significant opportunity across the Central Belt in sectors such as Fintech, AI and energy transition, where Scotland’s heritage and concentration of academic institutions has created an environment for innovation to thrive. The investment team will be built out with several new hires in Scotland over the coming months.

The business is also announcing a rebrand from Puma Private Equity to Puma Growth Partners to better reflect the team’s commitment to partnering with the scale-up companies that it has backed across the UK and supporting them with all aspects of their growth journey.

Mr Leslie said: “For too long 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. 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.

“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.”

Rupert West, managing director, Puma Growth Partners comments: “As we expand our offering across the UK, having opened our new office in Manchester last year and now launching into Scotland, we have been reflecting on the breadth of our support for the scale-up companies we back. We are re-branding to Puma Growth Partners to encompass the ultra-active support and close relationship we offer our portfolio companies through every stage of their growth journey.

“Our investment team brings a wealth of commercial experience and works in partnership with our management teams to support them in all aspects of growing their businesses. In addition, our specialist Value Acceleration team and sector experts from within the wider Puma Capital Group are on hand to provide support. We are looking forward to continuing to grow our business as Puma Growth Partners.” 

Recent new portfolio companies include Lucky Saint, the UK’s number one dedicated alcohol-free beer brand, Transreport, the UK’s fastest-growing accessibility technology company and Pockit, the digital account provider for under-served communities.

Puma Growth Partners facilitates growth capital and provides expertise to best-in-class, ambitious businesses across the UK, irrespective of sector, and works in partnership with management to help businesses scale and create long-term value. It aims to deliver insight, expertise, and a fresh perspective to the portfolio companies it partners with. Having invested in and worked with many organisations across a breadth of sectors, Puma Growth Partners has deep insights and experience in scaling businesses for growth and where desired, successful sale and exit.