Contents
02.
07.
15.
21.
Foreword
Stages of
evolution
Founder
gender
Valuations
03.
09.
17.
23.
Key findings
Regional
trends
Deal
sizes
Investors
05.
11.
12.
19.
25.
Headline
funding figures
Sectors
Sector
spotlight
Biggest deals
of the year
About
Beauhurst
Data for this report was finalised on 16 January 2023.
To be included in our analysis, an investment must be:
• Dated between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2022
• Publicly-announced
• Some form of equity investment
• Secured by a non-listed UK company
The Deal 2022 // 01
Foreword
Investment into the UK’s startups and
scaleups is down. But not by much. The
murmurs of a changing tide started in
March and April last year, as public tech
company valuations started to sink, and
some significant layoffs began, particularly
in the US. Commentary began almost
immediately after that about how it was
only a matter of time before VC investing
ground to halt.
And to be sure, inflation and interest rates
have only continued to alter the calculus for
investors. But the drop in equity investment
is not pronounced—deals are down by only
7% and the amount invested by 16%.
We’ve gone from a frenzy where investors
felt they couldn’t get money out the door
quickly enough, to some diligence finally
being done on at least some deals. This is
a provocative oversimplification, but I have
spoken with plenty of VCs who have slowed
to compensate for earlier excesses. That
said, I have also spoken to VCs who don’t
know how their fund-returner is going to
exit now and, therefore, expect raising the
next fund to be very tricky.
So, a relatively good 2022 doesn’t mean
we can be complacent about 2023. It’s
not surprising to see that the stage of
company that fared best in 2022 was the
seed stage, as the riskiest part of private
equity investment is also the most counter-
cyclical. But investors are needed at every
stage. If some of them keep stepping back,
companies will start to falter.
Head of Research & Consultancy
Henry Whorwood
2,722
dea