Equity Investment into Spinouts 2026  

The academic spinout ecosystem remains a key part of the UK’s innovation economy. Spinouts bridge the gap between research and commercial ventures and align closely with the UK government’s Modern Industrial Strategy, driving innovation in areas ranging from semiconductor development to AI drug discovery.

Few countries match our concentration of world-class universities. As a result, spinouts are increasingly central to the country’s future. British universities are producing companies at the forefront of not just deeptech but life sciences and clean technology: businesses that are transforming computing, drug discovery, nuclear fusion and much more.

This year’s report shows a market capable of attracting significant investment, but with continuing imbalances across regions and problems with retention. Discover more below.

Investment into UK spinouts fell to £1.98bn in 2025, a 19.6% decline from 2024. H1 2026 showed signs of a rebound, with £1.56bn raised, but it is too early to tell whether this strength will be sustained, especially since just four deals accounted for £709m, almost half of capital in H1 2026.

Three were secured by advanced computing hardware companies Quantum Motion, Oxford Quantum Circuits, and Fractile, while the fourth was raised by cancer therapeutics company CellCentric. Investment growth in this half is partially driven by a small number of outsize rounds in technology intensive industries rather than a broadening funding base.

Meanwhile, deal volumes have fallen since their peak in H2 2020. H2 2025 recorded 195 deals, the lowest half-year total since H2 2018, before recovering to 215 in H1 2026. As a result, average deal size has increased from £3.57m in H1 2016 to £7.24m in H1 2026, indicating that the growth in spinout investment across the decade has increasingly been driven by larger rounds rather than higher deal volumes. This mirrors the wider UK equity market, which saw a 7.87% decrease in equity deal numbers from 2024 to 2025, even as investment totals rose from £23.2bn to £24.0bn.¹

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Parkwalk and its parent IP Group led spinout investment, jointly accounting for 42 combined deals in the past year: 27 involving Parkwalk and 15 involving IP Group. The largest deal involving Parkwalk during the period was a £125m fundraise for quantum computing company Quantum Motion, and the largest involving IP Group was a £76.6m deal secured by autonomous vehicle developer Oxa, completed in May 2026 and December 2025 respectively. Their prominence in the ranking underlines the depth of Parkwalk and IP Group’s specialised spinout focus.

Scottish Enterprise follows, participating in 31 deals. Its position reflects the relative strength of the Scottish spinout ecosystem, as well as the role national economic development bodies can play in supporting spinout growth. Similarly, the British Business Bank placed third with 24 deals, and Mercia Ventures (19 deals) and SFC Capital (15 deals) also rank highly. Two of the five most active investors are government-linked, highlighting the significant role public capital continues to play in supporting the UK’s spinout base.

Equity investment into UK academic spinouts is heavily concentrated in three regions, with the South East (£5.99bn), the East of England (£4.71bn), and London (£4.66bn) together accounting for nearly 80% of investment. This reflects the strength of the Golden Triangle’s research and investment ecosystem.

Beyond the Golden Triangle, Scotland ranks highest, with its spinouts raising £1.73bn. Spinouts in Scotland benefit from initiatives such as the Scottish Government’s High Growth Spinout Programme, and further commercialisation support announced in 2025.³

However, the Golden Triangle’s investment dominance cannot be attributed to research strength alone. Bristol and Warwick, for example, rank highly for investment value and deal activity, despite their regions attracting substantially less capital overall. This points to the importance of established funding ecosystems and access to investors in shaping where spinout capital is deployed.

Investment also varies within regions. In the North of England, Manchester-based spinouts raised £195m across the past decade, the highest of any Northern city. Extended to Greater Manchester, this increases to £248m, almost 40% of total North West investment. Leeds (£117m) and Sheffield (£112m) collectively accounted for approximately two-thirds of Yorkshire and the Humber’s total, while Liverpool’s spinouts raised only £19.6m. New regional funds, such as Parkwalk’s Northern Universities Venture Fund, in conjunction with Northern Gritstone, which targets early-stage Northern spinouts, may help to reduce intra-regional disparities.⁴,⁵

Investment into spinouts is weighted towards a small number of universities. The University of Oxford leads by a clear margin, with its spinouts raising £5.39bn over the period, ahead of the University of Cambridge on £3.99bn. UCL ranks third with £2.55bn, followed by Imperial College London (£1.18bn) and King’s College London (£1.02bn), reinforcing the concentration of investment within the Golden Triangle. Beyond these institutions, the University of Manchester (£759m) leads a further group of research intensive universities, including Bristol, Edinburgh, Dundee and Warwick.

By deal count, the University of Oxford again leads, with 607 equity deals into its spinouts, compared with 539 for the University of Cambridge. Imperial College London ranks third with 274 deals, followed by the University of Edinburgh (226) and University College London (225). The Royal College of Art is a notable presence with 194 deals, reflecting a strong flow of creative and design-led spinouts that raise comparatively frequently, but in smaller rounds

Parkwalk is the UK’s most active investor in university spinouts, backing transformative technologies developed by the country’s leading universities and research organisations. As the leading growth EIS fund manager, Parkwalk has invested over £500m in 200+ companies through its EIS Funds.

In partnership with our parent company, IP Group, we are dedicated to unlocking the potential of UK university research, supporting businesses throughout their journey from spinout to scale-up and from laboratory to market.

This report was produced by Parkwalk and IP Group, in partnership with Beauhurst.