IT, energy and healthcare companies across the UK will be the target of a new growth equity and venture capital fund from Scottish Equity Partners that has already raised £185 million.

IT, energy and healthcare companies across the UK will be the target of a new growth equity and venture capital fund from Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) that has already raised £185 million.

A number of unnamed existing institutional investors in SEP participated in the fundraising for SEP IV, which has been undertaken during the past few months. The amount raised is 15 per cent more than the £160 million secured for the firm’s previous fund SEP III.

SEP plans to invest the fund in high-growth companies in the IT, energy and healthcare sectors in a similar strategy to its previous funds.

According to a statement, SEP has made investments totalling £31.6 million in the past year. These have included online direct marketing company Media Ingenuity and Metaforic, which specialises in anti-tamper software protection. Exits included cancer treatment company Biovex, which was sold to Amgen in a $1 billion deal and Zeus Technology, which was acquired by Riverbed.

SEP’s current portfolio companies include companies such as flight search engine operator Skyscanner, IT analytics business Sumerian and healthcare data analytics company Aridhia.

Calum Paterson, SEP’s managing partner, comments, ‘It is difficult to find reasons to be cheerful on the broader economic front, but there are still opportunities for individual companies to expand.’ He adds, ‘We have continued to be closely involved with our portfolio companies and to provide them with as much support as we can. Although exits remain hard work in the absence of a vibrant IPO market, there are grounds for optimism on that front also.’