EDINBURGH, Scotland — Standing near the pitch where the Scottish soccer team that I co-own, the Caledonian Braves, were locked in a late-season road match on a recent Friday night, the feeling was a little bit strange.

Talk about places you never expected to be.

The Braves only came into existence in 2019 and, with COVID lockdown, really have been playing for just a few years. And yet, almost 9,000 people from 55 countries and every U.S. state have invested in the club through a crowdfunding app, raising more than $2.7 million, an enviable nest egg for a team in the Lowland League, the fifth tier of Scotland’s soccer pyramid.

That’s not all. The Braves, whose nickname is meant to evoke “Braveheart” or “Scotland the Brave,” a bagpipe tune many Americans would recognize, also have a solid social media game, and used clever ads on Instagram and Facebook to attract potential investors.

Last April, I took the plunge, putting $200 into the Braves. I don’t expect a massive return — the point was to contribute to a bit of Scottish sports entrepreneurship. It fits for me. I have Scottish ancestry, earned a graduate degree at the University of Dundee, travel to Glasgow on business and count soccer among my favorite sports. The Braves at the time were trying to hit the $500,000 investment mark.

Now they’ve more than........

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