Social Investment Scotland (SIS) has appointed Arran Dewar as executive director of SIS Ventures, its wholly-owned impact investor.
He joins from venture philanthropy organisation Inspiring Scotland, with his new role being responsible for growing the volume and diversity of businesses within the portfolio, working with existing investees to maximise their impact, and attracting more funding from private investors.
One of Dewar's first priorities will be to lead the launch of a fourth round of fundraising for Impact First, the fund established in 2018 to support impact-led businesses in Scotland.
Impact First has, to date, raised and deployed £4.4m to date among 12 high-growth early-stage businesses, all focusing on delivering impact. The portfolio includes Carcinotech, MiAlgae, SOLASTA Bio, Talking Medicines, Dxcover, Enterobiotix, Manus Neurodynamica, Trojan Energy, Cyacomb and Good-Loop.
In his previous role, Dewar led the Scottish Government-backed CashBack for Communities fund, supporting its work with 35 organisations to deliver programmes across Scotland over a 10-year period.
A qualified Chartered Accountant, with more than 20 years’ experience working in business advisory, investment and portfolio management, due diligence and finance, he has previously held roles with EY, Saffery Champness and Deloitte.
SIS chief executive Alastair Davis said: “Arran’s expertise and experience in managing an impact-focused fund will be invaluable to SIS Ventures, as we look to scale up our activities over the coming year.
“Having launched our Impact First fund nearly five years ago, we are beginning to see the significant difference our investment is making to the innovative businesses within our portfolio.”
Dewar added: “Taking a leading role at Scotland’s most experienced impact investor was too good an opportunity to turn down – combining a passion for mission-aligned investment with my professional experience as a corporate financier and chartered accountant.
“We’ve got a great opportunity at SIS Ventures to capitalise on an increased interest in impact among investors and increased demand for capital from ambitious businesses.”
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