UK university spinouts win record investment, Parkwalk and Beauhurst reveal
The average value of equity raised rose from £4.96 million in 2023 to £7.49m in 2024, reflecting stronger investor appetite and a willingness to back companies with potential for global scale.
Sectoral activity was once again led by Life Sciences, particularly in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and clinical research, with 182 deals H2 2024 to H1 2025.
DeepTech also performed strongly, with AI and data infrastructure among the most active sub-sectors (152 deals H2 2024 to H1 2025) – mirroring national priorities under the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy.
In the first half of 2025, UK spinouts raised £709m across 175 deals, with momentum expected to build in H2 following a slower start. Despite macroeconomic headwinds, investor confidence in the UK spinout ecosystem remains firm, underpinned by world-class research and a growing pool of founders.
Moray Wright, CEO of Parkwalk, said: “Spinouts are the future of this economy. It is where the UK has real comparative strength – capitalising on our world-leading research base. The companies raising record sums of investment in 2024 are tackling the biggest challenges of our time – from climate change to AI and healthcare.
“With the right policy environment, including long-term support for the Enterprise Investment Scheme and full implementation of the Mansion House reforms, we can ensure that the UK fully leverages its potential in frontier innovation.”
Home to the Golden Triangle, the South East (£5.58bn), London (£4.27bn) and East of England (£4.25bn), remain the main centres for spinout investment, collectively responsible for 77.9 per cent of total investment since 2015.
However, the report highlights growing momentum across the UK with Manchester-based spinouts securing a record £56m in 2024, and universities in Edinburgh, Sheffield and Leeds becoming increasingly active.
In June 2025, Parkwalk and North Gritstone launched the Northern Universities Venture Fund to provide greater access to investment for spinouts from the Northern Arc Universities of Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield – aiming to create a more balanced funding landscape across the UK.
Foreign investment remains a key contributor to UK spinout activity, with US-based funds participating in 113 deals in 2024. The record £3.35bn invested last year coincided with strong growth in average deal sizes for both UK–foreign co-investment and foreign-only investment.
For UK–foreign co-investment, the average grew from £13.5m in 2023 to £22.8m in 2024, while foreign-only investment increased from £10.0m to £16.1m. Five of the eight largest transactions last year involved foreign investors, underlining the global appeal of UK spinouts.
The report confirmed Parkwalk remained the most active investor in UK spinouts, with 41 deals in 2024. Combined with its parent IP Group, the total rises to 54 – up from 40 in the previous year. Together, Parkwalk and IP Group backed more UK spinout equity deals than any other investor in 2024, reinforcing their central role in supporting breakthrough innovation.
The report highlights the stark challenges that spinouts face in raising scale-up capital. Hundreds of spinouts raise up to £5m but only 57 have gone on to raise between £20m and £29.9m and only 42 reached £30m to £39.9m. Many of these companies are over a decade old, reflecting not just long development timelines but the need for accessible scale-up capital.