Young Company Finance tracks and reports on early stage high growth companies in Scotland.

We focus in particular upon how young companies finance their development from start-up to maturity, but also report news about senior appointments, business awards, product launches, and sales successes - in short, any of the milestones which such companies must pass on their way to profitability.

We also report news from other organisations involved in the wider ecosystem in which young companies develop;   investors, advisers, incubators, public sector agencies, and many others.

There's certainly a lot happening in this sector - investment deals, new funds, commercialisation initiatives, new companies being formed, and much more.   While some of this might be reported in the general press, it is often not consistent or in depth, and in many instances this type of information simply goes unreported.

Background

Young Company Finance was started in March 1998 by entrepreneur and corporate financier Gavin Don, whose investment analysis company Equitas provided advice to early stage high growth companies in Scotland. Gavin is currently Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurial Finance at the University of Edinburgh’s Management School, and a frequent writer in the specialist and general press.

In 2000 Gavin wanted to devote more time to his other businesses, and YCF was acquired by Jonathan Harris, the present editor, whose previous career with the Ben Line Group had included four years as a junior manager in Japan, then fifteen years with Atlantic Drilling, Ben Line’s offshore drilling subsidiary, as general manager of the company for most of this time. After Atlantic Drilling was mothballed in 1992, following several years of depression in the offshore exploration industry, Jonathan worked with a number of young companies, originally as an adviser with the then Grampian Enterprise, and afterwards in various temporary roles.

YCF gave the opportunity to concentrate on the young company sector, and Jonathan has built the business so that it now holds conferences, produces special publications, and provides consultancy and analysis services on aspects of the sector, as well as publishing the monthly magazine.

In February 2011, the activities of YCF in Scotland were licensed to LS Ventures Ltd, a subsidiary of the Scottish angel capital association LINC Scotland. LS Ventures gives LINC the vehicle to extend its commercial activities to meet future opportunities in the wider early stage investment context, and the partnership between YCF and LINC enables both organisations to develop their plans for future growth.

Contact:
Jonathan Harris
Editor, Young Company Finance
tel: 0131 315 4443
e-mail:  jonathan@ycf.co.uk