M Squared Lasers – the Glasgow technology firm was hailed by Nicola Sturgeon as “a great example of the ambitious and innovative companies we have here in Scotland” when the national investment bank was launched in 2020. It went into administration in 2025 with debts of £64m
Trojan Energy – the Aberdeen-based electric vehicle charging firm collapsed into administration with debt of almost £30m last year
Krucial – the Glasgow-based start-up, which specialised in satellite technology, folded last year.
Orbex – set up to run a planned satellite launch facility in the north-west Highlands, the company is to be liquidated and its assets sold off
Pneumowave – headquartered in Glasgow, the medical tech firm appointed liquidators in July
Since being set up in 2020, the bank has investment more than £1.2bn in 53 ventures and helped to raise £1.9bn in third-party investment.
An independent report by Sir John Elvidge, external, a former chief civil servant to the Scottish government, found that the bank was expected to have made losses of about £110m by the end of 2025-26 financial year.
He said it was important that the bank learned lessons from the losses, but did not say the scale of the failed investments were necessarily higher than should be expected for a newly launched body.
Responding to the bank’s annual report, First Minister John Swinney said it must be able to take risks to deliver “greater economic returns”.
He said that principle was essential to “constructing an economy that is fit for the 21st Century”.
Scottish Labour economy spokesperson Daniel Johnson said: “These losses must be examined and the bank’s leadership must continue to work to identify investment opportunities that will deliver for our economy and our communities.”
Kim Schmulian, Reform UK Scotland’s finance spokesperson, said: “This is yet another example of SNP ministers gambling with taxpayers’ money while those responsible try to dress up failure as a ‘challenging environment’.”
Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Craig Hoy said that the bank “must not become another SNP vanity project where taxpayers are left to foot the bill for failure while ministers dodge responsibility”.
