The Herald:

Par Equity’s investments in high-growth technology businesses have reached the £100m mark.

The milestone was passed when the company completed five investments in a week in October.

One of the highlights of Par’s recent activity was a multi-million-pound investment in Artus, a company seeking to revolutionise the heating and air conditioning industry.

A spin-out from engineering giant Arup, with offices in Edinburgh and London, it has developed technology that makes the heating and cooling of buildings more efficient and significantly reduces the amount of energy consumed and carbon generated.

Par, from its headquarters in Edinburgh, backs emerging technology stars across the north of the UK. Following the string of recent investments, Par Equity now holds 43 companies in its portfolio, including Cumulus (Belfast), Nova Pangea Technologies (Middlesbrough), Integrated Graphene (Stirling) and Novosound (Glasgow).

Par Equity investors have received proceeds from the sale of its portfolio companies every year since 2013. This demonstrates its track record in identifying young technology companies and supporting them through to successful exits and Par expects 2021 to be its most successful year yet with the sale of Current Health, a “care-at-home technology platform”, to listed US business Best Buy. The deal was announced in October.

Andrew Noble, Partner at Par Equity said: “Over the past few years we’ve seen the confluence of a maturing, successful portfolio and an accelerating technology M&A market, and because we often see a recycling of capital and talent, successful exits like Current Health have the potential to sling-shot exciting new ventures, like Artus, onto greater things.”

In the ESG space, Par Equity’s investment activities extend beyond venture capital and cutting-edge technology. Over the last nine years Par has launched and managed two commercial forestry investment vehicles, building a strong profile in this asset class. 

Paul Munn, managing partner at Par Equity, said: “Commercial forestry as an alternative asset class has an exciting future, with accelerating interest due to the carbon sequestration potential and the launch of tradable carbon credits. As governments, businesses and consumers adopt a net zero mindset, commercial forestry is likely to play a critical role in achieving the targets they set."

Mr Munn added: “Crossing the £100m mark for money deployed into young technology companies is a fantastic achievement. I’m grateful to everyone in the Par community for the work they’ve put in over the past thirteen years.  We’ve built a strong platform for growth and we are excited about our future investment opportunities, both in terms of our venture capital and commercial forestry interests.”

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