VC investment in university spinouts from UK universities was at a record in 2024 but the pace of investment is slowing in 2025.
UK spinouts raised an unprecedented high of £3.35bn ($4.45bn) in 2024, a 44% increase on the previous year and a sign of resilience for the sector amid a decline in the broader VC market between 2021 and 2024, according to a report by UK spinout investor Parkwalk Advisors and data company Beauhurst.
The growth was mainly driven by two large fundraisings for growth stage companies Autolus, an immunotherapy spinout from University College London, and Bicycle Therapeutics, a cancer therapy spinout from the University of Cambridge. Both financings accounted for 26% of total equity raised in 2024. Even without these two large financings, the total amount raised would have been more than in 2023.
The average size of equity financings also increased to £7.49m, a 51% increase over the £4.96m average size in 2023.
Spinout investment in 2025 appears to be more muted. In the first half of 2025, UK spinouts raised £709m at an average of £4.05m per deal, suggesting a slower pace for spinout equity fundraising this year. Large deals include the £90m raise by drug developer CellCentric, a spinout from the University of Cambridge, in April and a £107m raise by Draig Therapeutics, a spinout from Cardiff University, in June.
The value of first-time equity deals increased to £183m in 2024, up from £109m. But, at the same time, there has been a steady decline in the number of companies spinning out. In 2024, 83 spinouts were incorporated compared with 206 in 2020.
The University of Cambridge secured the highest number of equity deals for its spinouts in 2024 at 63, followed by the University of Oxford at 48, and Imperial College London at 28.
US investors are the most active foreign participants in UK spinouts. They invested in 113 deals in 2024, a 64% increase on 2023.
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