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
deals announced
£19.7b
invested
-7%
since 2021
-16%
since 2021
The latest data on UK equity investment. We’ve analysed every
publicly-announced equity deal over the past decade to spot
emerging trends in the market in 2022.
Investment activity declined overall, with
£19.7b invested into private UK companies
during the year, across 2,722 announced
equity rounds.
More than half of deals went to
London-based companies, accounting
for 69% of pounds deployed.
The seed stage was the only stage of
evolution to see an increase in deal
numbers since 2021, despite a 13% drop
in first-time fundraisings.
Key findings
The Deal 2022 // 03
A total of 88 megadeals were announced,
of which 40 were worth more than £100m.
The median company valuation in
Northern Ireland more than doubled
between 2021 and 2022.
Despite wider market trends, the blockchain
and cleantech sectors both saw an increase
in deal numbers during the year.
Just 2p in every £1 invested went to
all-female founding teams—versus
85p to all-male founding teams.
Individual angels saw the smallest decline in
investment, but private equity and venture
capital firms still accounted for half of deals.
Key findings // 04
Headline funding figures
Number of announced deals and amount raised by year
Following record levels of investment activity
in 2021, deal numbers dropped by 7% this
year, with 2,722 announced equity rounds
in total. This marks the first down year for
deal numbers since our records began. The
amount invested was also down significantly,
landing on £19.7b, 16% below 2021.
It was a year of two halves. Q1 2022 remains
the top-performing quarter in the UK to
date, both in terms of the number of rounds
being announced (843) and the amount
raised (£7.28b). In contrast, Q3 2022 saw
just 582 deals announced, and less than
half the amount raised (£3.05b). Similar
trends were seen in Q4, with £3.51b raised,
across 587 rounds.
Supply chain disruptions, political
uncertainty, and the energy crisis in
Europe have all contributed to this year’s
challenging conditions. In contrast, 2021’s
1.1
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
£19.7b
£23.4b
£11.8b
£12.4b
£4.57b
£1.98b
£7.95b
£4.42b
£3.75b
£2.09b
£9.48b
1,930
2,003
807
1,693
1,676
2,162
2,942
1,500
2,722
1,088
2,422
Amount raised
Number of deals
The Deal 2022 // 05
Headline funding figures // 06
Number of announced deals and amount raised by quarter
1.2
Q1 2020
Q2 2020
Q3 2020
Q4 2020
Q1 2021
Q2 2021
Q3 2021
Q4 2021
Q1 2022
Q2 2022
Q3 2022
Q4 2022
£2.80b
£2.03b
£3.03b
£3.90b
£5.62b
£5.48b
£6.41b
£5.88b
£7.28b
£5.82b
£3.05b
£3.51b
661
655
843
707
710
637
818
553
587
762
571
582
Amount raised
Number of deals
Q1 2020
Q2 2020
Q3 2020
Q4 2020
Q1 2021
Q2 2021
Q3 2021
Q4 2021
Q1 2022
Q2 2022
Q3 2022
Q4 2022
£2.80b
£2.03b
£3.03b
£3.90b
£5.62b
£5.48b
£6.41b
£5.88b
£7.28b
£5.82b
£3.05b
£3.51b
661
655
843
707
710
637
818
553
587
762
571
582
Amount raised
Number of deals
extraordinary spike in deal volume was
spurred on by unprecedented economic
stimulus measures, postponed deals from
2020, pent-up capital, and low interest rates.
Viewed in this way, the drop in investment
this year is perhaps less dramatic than it
appears. Indeed, 2022 still saw considerably
more deals and pounds invested than in any
year prior to 2021.
It was a year of
two halves. Q1
2022 remains the
top-performing
quarter in the UK
to date
Stages of evolution
Number of announced deals, by stage of evolution
Equity investment declined across every
stage of evolution in 2022, bar the seed stage
which restored its title as the most common
for announced equity deals, after being
outperformed by the venture stage in 2021.
A record 1,128 seed rounds were announced
in 2022, up 1% from 2021. Venture rounds
dropped to 1,121 (-11%), growth rounds to 338
(-13%) and established rounds to 134 (-21%).
The amount invested via seed and venture
rounds in 2022 was up from 2021, increasing
12% and 8% respectively. But the later
stages fared less well; deal value declined by
24% at the growth stage, and by 34% at the
established stage.
Interestingly, between Q3 and Q4, the
growth and established stages saw slight
2.1
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1,121
1,128
338
134
Venture
Seed
Established
Growth
The Deal 2022 // 07
upticks in deal numbers, while seed-stage
and venture-stage deals declined. The
number of first-time fundraisings that were
announced in 2022 was down 13% from 2021.
This implies declining investor risk appetite,
with funds doubling down on their existing
portfolios and later-stage (read lower-risk)
deals in the latter half of the year.
Stages of evolution // 08
Amount raised via announced deals, by stage of evolution
2.2
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
£0b
£1b
£2b
£3b
£4b
£5b
£6b
£7b
£8b
£9b
£10b
£11b
£6.36b
£2.17b
£8.48b
£2.65b
Venture
Seed
Established
Growth
The number of first-
time fundraisings
that were announced
in 2022 was down
13% from 2021
From a regional equality perspective, the
distribution of equity funding in the UK
has worsened, with the South of England
claiming the vast majority (72%) of
investments. The South East received 9%
of deals, the South West 6%, and the East
of England 7%. Meanwhile, London secured
the greatest proportion of announced
equity deals on record, at 50%—up from
49% in 2021.
In comparison, the North of England
(Yorkshire and The Humber, the North East
and the North West) secured just 12% of
deals. And in keeping with previous years,
Northern Ireland received the smallest
share of equity rounds, at just 1%.
Looking at the amount invested, the
disparity is even bigger, with 69% of
pounds deployed in 2022 going to
London - based companies.
In more positive news, both Yorkshire and
The Humber and the South West saw
record deal numbers in 2022, with 155
and 93 rounds, respectively. Alongside
Wales, they were the only regions to see
an increase in investment volume from the
previous year.
Regional trends
The Deal 2022 // 09
Proportion of announced
fundraisings per region, 2022
3.1
Regional trends // 10
London secured the
greatest proportion
of announced equity
deals on record
The Deal 2022 // 11
Number of announced deals, by selected sectors
4.1
Sectors
In line with wider market trends, most
high-growth tech sectors saw a decline
in announced deals in 2022. Artificial
intelligence withstood the worst of it, with
AI deals falling just 5%. Fintech, however,
saw a sizable decline (-18%), while life
sciences (-24%) and digital security (-36%)
were impacted more heavily.
But it wasn’t all doom and gloom, as
emerging technologies like blockchain
saw a slight (5%) uptick in deal volume.
Most notably, cleantech deals increased by
17% between 2021 and 2022, continuing
the sector’s steep upwards trajectory in
recent years.
Despite securing a similar number of deals
to life sciences in 2021, cleantech is now
firmly positioned as one of the top tech
verticals in the UK equity market. With 231
investments in 2022, it sits behind only
fintech and AI, which secured 305 and 298
deals respectively.
UK hydrogen technology companies
collectively raised a record £299m via 36
equity fundraising deals during the year,
bucking the overall decline in investment
in 2022. The total amount raised is up
from £147m via 28 deals in 2021. While the
sector is nascent, investment activity into
hydrogen technology companies involves a
range of non-traditional and international
venture capital investors, signalling the
area’s perceived strategic importance.
Hydrogen technology companies are those
innovating in any part of the developing
sector: production, storage, distribution and
supply chain, and end applications of the
energy source. The different parts of the
emerging sector are drawing in a diversity
of investors. Oil and gas investors and
infrastructure providers are focusing their
investment on hydrogen production and
distribution companies. Car manufacturers
are focusing on hydrogen-electric vehicle
technologies. And more traditional venture
capital investors are exploring cutting-
edge uses of hydrogen such as in nuclear
fusion reactors. The dramatic increase in
equity finance flowing to these businesses
likely reflects a combination of technology
readiness across the sector and increased
investor interest in energy—driven by the
current crisis in Europe and the global
transition to cleaner energy sources.
While still at an early stage, the UK’s
hydrogen technology sector is already of
strategic importance to a diverse group of
backers. Half of the hydrogen equity deals
in 2022 involved seed-stage companies and
36% involved venture-stage companies. The
fact that investment is dominated by early-
stage companies speaks to the newness of
the sector, as does the median deal value of
around £1m in 2021 and 2022. However, the
median deal value has roughly tripled in the
last three years, having hovered between
£300k-£400k between 2016 and 2019.
Hydrogen is attractive because it
produces no emissions when burned
and is an abundant element that can be
sourced or produced from many sources,
including renewables. Although, it is not
without its drawbacks; many hydrogen
production methods require significant
energy and create CO2. Transportation
is also challenging due to the gas’s low
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
62
63
148
231
298
305
Articial intelligence
Fintech
Life sciences
Cleantech
Blockchain
Digital security
Not All Hot Air:
How Hydrogen
Could be Here
to Stay
Senior Research Manager
Dan Robinson
The Deal 2022 // 13
density, which requires high-pressure
or low-temperature storage. Despite the
challenges, it seems likely that hydrogen
will be part of the world’s future fuel mix.
While some investors may be wary—
and still bearing the scars of previous
cleantech cycles—the activity from
strategic investors is a promising sign.
Renewable energy technology company
Storegga raised a £51.3m round in May—
the largest during the year. The deal saw
its existing investors, Australia’s Macquarie
Capital, M&G Investments, Singapore’s
GIC, and Japan’s Mitsui, joined by Italy’s
Snam—a natural gas infrastructure
provider. Hydrogen production is only
part of the London-based Storegga’s
operations; it also has expertise in carbon
sequestration and direct air capture
of CO2. Ahead of the May fundraising,
Storegga announced Scotland’s first
green hydrogen project in partnership with
Scottish Power. In November, Storegga
announced plans to work with Malaysia’s
Petronas to explore carbon sequestration
projects in the country.
For investors with oil and gas exposure
like Macquarie and Mitsui, companies like
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
£147m
£299m
£29.6m
£32.7m
£24.5m
£28.5m
£13.41m
£5.84m
£3.74m
£0.61m
£1.61m
36
16
17
12
11
19
10
28
2
6
5
Amount raised
Number of deals
Hydrogen company deals and amount raised by year
4.2
Sector spotlight // 14
Storegga offer a double benefit. Firstly,
carbon sequestration is a mechanism for
mitigating the emissions from hydrocarbon
extraction and makes use of existing
infrastructure such as wells and reservoirs.
Secondly, it offers investors a method to
diversify away from hydrocarbons into a
fuel source that may become the dominant
gaseous fuel of the future. Some investors
in the space are gaining exposure indirectly,
such as UK petrochemical refiner INEOS.
The large private company provided £25m
in founding capital to HydrogenOne Capital,
an LSE-listed fund launched in July 2021
focused on hydrogen investments. Since
launch, it has taken equity stakes in four
high-growth UK hydrogen companies.
One of these is hydrogen fuel cell developer
Bramble. HydrogenOne contributed £10m
to a £40m investment in February 2022.
The deal also included follow-on investment
from existing backers BGF, Parkwalk, and
IP Group among others. West Sussex-based
Bramble was spun out of UCL and Imperial
College in 2016 and creates fuel cells for
light commercial vehicles and generators.
Its designs use the existing printed circuit
board supply chain, enabling the company
to offer scaleable solutions at a low cost.
Those with oil and gas exposure are not
the only investors taking strategic steps
in hydrogen. UK-based global forecourt
operator EG Group invested £25m in
September into Glasgow-based HV
Systems, which is developing a 40-tonne
hydrogen heavy goods vehicle. EG Group
operates thousands of forecourt sites
across the UK, Europe, the US, and
Australia. Being actively involved in shaping
the next generation of heavy goods vehicles
makes strategic sense for the company.
French aerospace and defence group
Safran is also looking to UK hydrogen
technology companies for strategic
investment. In March 2022, Safran
Corporate Ventures contributed £3.50m
to a £14.4m fundraising by Cranfield
Aerospace Solutions. The Bedfordshire-
based company is developing hydrogen-
fuelled aircraft, starting with the conversion
of existing aircraft to hydrogen. Spun out of
Cranfield University in 1997, the company
specialises in aircraft modifications and
prototyping of new designs. Cranfield
Aerospace Solutions’ March deal also saw
participation from HydrogenOne Capital,
Motus Ventures, and Tawazun SDF—the
investment arm of the United Arab Emirates
Armed Forces.
As record investment levels show, the
UK’s hydrogen technology companies are
increasingly attractive to a diverse range of
strategic and speculative investors. While
the company population is dominated
by seed and venture-stage firms, there
are many tailwinds for the sector which
should speed the adoption of hydrogen
technologies and encourage further
investment. High-growth hydrogen could be
here to stay.
Founder gender
Proportion of announced deals by gender of founding team
High-growth companies with a female
founder secured 27% of announced
equity deals in the UK this year—up from
24% in 2021. Businesses with mixed
gender founding teams secured 18% of
investments, as in 2021. Meanwhile, those
solely founded by women (female-founded)
secured a new record high of 9%.
The vast majority (73%) of deals, however,
went to companies solely founded by men
(male-founded). Clearly, there’s still a
long way to go to even begin to level the
playing field for female entrepreneurs,
but it’s good to see progress after several
years of stagnation.
5.1
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
83%
82%
82%
81%
78%
78%
78%
77%
76%
76%
73%
10%
12%
11%
14%
16%
16%
16%
17%
17%
18%
18%
7%
6%
7%
5%
6%
6%
6%
7%
7%
6%
9%
2022
Mixed gender
Male-founded
Female-founded
The Deal 2022 // 15
In terms of deal value, however, the
numbers are more disappointing and show
no improvement since 2021. Just 16% of
funds went to high-growth companies with
at least one female founder this year. And
less than 2p in every £1 invested during
2022 went to all-female founding teams,
versus 85p to all-male founding teams.
Deal sizes // 16
Proportion of amount raised by gender of founding team
5.2
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
88%
87%
89%
87%
84%
89%
83%
86%
86%
85%
85%
14%
10%
14%
12%
13%
10%
15%
13%
11%
8%
7%
5%
3%
3%
3%
3%
Mixed gender
Male-founded
Female-founded
Less than 2p in every
£1 invested during
2022 went to all-female
founding teams
Deal sizes
Proportion of announced deals by investment bracket
The only deals to increase in number
between 2021 and 2022 were those worth
£10m-£50m. Despite this change in deal
volume, the breakdown of rounds by
investment bracket in 2022 looked very
similar to the previous year.
During 2022, just one in three announced
equity rounds totalled less than £500k.
This marks a stark change from a decade
ago, when these smaller deals—which are
necessary for early-stage startups to gain
traction—accounted for around half of
investments. Whilst this is, in part, a natural
consequence of a maturing ecosystem,
it could be cause for concern for younger
6.1
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
£0-£500k
£500k-£1m
£1m-£2m
£2m-£5m
£5m-£10m
£10m-£50m
£50m+
The Deal 2022 // 17
businesses (and thus the long-term health of
the ecosystem).
At the other end of the scale, megadeals
(rounds worth £50m+) made up 4% of
deals in both 2021 and 2022. Of the 88
megadeals announced in 2022, 40 were
£100m+ gigadeals. While lower than last
year’s figures, 2022 saw double the number
of megadeals announced than in 2020.

The median size of announced rounds was
also largely unchanged this year, remaining
at 2021’s record high of £1.00m, following a
drop in 2020 to £600k.
Deal sizes // 18
Number of megadeals and gigadeals announced
6.2
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
48
60
16
29
17
15
52
40
16
16
16
12
4
8
3
3
9
5
3
Megadeal (£50m-£100m)
Gigadeal (£100m+)
Q3 2022 Equity Market Update
02
GoCardless develops
a platform that allows
companies to send and
receive payments online
via direct debit.
Deal date

09/02/2022
Location

London
Sector

Fintech
GoCardless
£231m
Biggest deals of the year
Checkout.com develops
software that allows
businesses to process
online payments in multiple
currencies.
Deal date

13/01/2022
Location

London
Sector

Fintech
Checkout.com
£730m
Cera provides homecare,
telehealth consultations,
prescription services, and
appointment booking
through a mobile app.
Deal date

03/08/2022
Location

London
Sector

eHealth
Cera*
£264m
SumUp’s payment
solutions system enables
sellers, particularly small
businesses, to process
payments using smart
devices.
Deal date

23/06/2022
Location

London
Sector

Fintech
SumUp*
£506m
Lendable develops an
online platform for
consumer finance that
uses AI and automated
underwriting to rapidly
approve loans.
Deal date

10/03/2022
Location

London
Sector

Fintech
Lendable
£210m
The Deal 2022 // 19
$312m
GRIDSERVE develops
sustainable energy
technology for solar
storage, with applications
such as electric vehicle
charging points.
Deal date

08/08/2022
Location

Buckinghamshire
Sector

Cleantech
GRIDSERVE
£200m
*Equity and loan
Volta Trucks designs
and manufactures
commercial electric
trucks, used specifically
for urban logistics.
Deal date

21/02/2022
Location

London
Sector

Automotive
Volta Trucks
£191m
Cinesite produces special
effects and animations
for movies.
Deal date

25/07/2022
Location

London
Sector

Film
Cinesite*
£194m
Copper’s software
platform provides custody
and portfolio management
services for digital assets
and investments.
Deal date

15/07/2022
Location

Cambridge
Sector

Fintech
Copper
£191m
Multiverse provides
professional
apprenticeships and
training to non-graduates,
and recruitment services
for employers.
Deal date

08/06/2022
Location

London
Sector

Edtech
Multiverse
£175m
$220m
€230m
Biggest deals of the year // 20
$320m
€590m
Valuations
Median pre-money valuation by stage of evolution
Median pre-money valuations declined at
the later stages of evolution this year, after
peaking in 2021. The median fell to £47.0m
at the growth stage (-26%) and to £23.5m
at the established stage (-16%). In contrast,
median valuations at the seed and venture
stages increased during 2022, to £2.91m
(+22%) and £9.49m (+24%), respectively.
Unsurprisingly, the median pre-money
valuation in the Capital (£8.74m) was
considerably higher than in the UK’s wider
high-growth ecosystem. London valuations
started to pull away from other regions as
early as 2016 and have since maintained a
significant lead.
7.1
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
£0m
£10m
£20m
£30m
£40m
£50m
£60m
£23.5m
£47.0m
£9.49m
£2.91m
Venture
Seed
Established
Growth
The Deal 2022 // 21
Valuations // 22
Median pre-money valuation by region
7.2
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
£0m
£1m
£2m
£3m
£4m
£5m
£6m
£7m
£8m
£9m
£8.74m
£5.28m
£2.55m
£5.46m
£4.98m
England (excluding London)
London
Wales
Scotland
Northern Ireland
The biggest change to valuations this year
was in Northern Ireland, where the median
more than doubled, to £5.28m. This is similar
to the median valuation in Scotland (£5.46m)
and regional England (£4.98m), and leaves
Wales far behind the rest of the country, with
a median valuation of just £2.55m.
Median pre-money
valuations declined
at the later stages
of evolution
this year
Investors
Number of announced deals by investor type
Every major investor type saw a drop in deal
numbers in 2022. Even the UK’s most active
fund type, private equity and venture capital
firms, saw a 9% decline in investments since
2021. In total, PE/VC funds participated in
1,329 announced equity rounds—49% of all
deals this year.
Individual business angels participated in
627 rounds, just three deals below last year’s
tally, while angel networks participated in
266 (-21%). Having overtaken crowdfunding
in 2021, business angels remain the second
most common investor type in the UK equity
market, and seem to have been the least
impacted by market conditions this year.
8.1
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
0
500
1000
1500
48
244
266
529
627
1,329
Business angels
Private equity and venture capital
Angel network
Crowdfunding
Corporate
University
The Deal 2022 // 23
Headline funding figures // 24
Most active investors in 2022
8.2
Seedrs
Crowdcube
Scottish Enterprise
SFC Capital
SyndicateRoom
Mercia Asset Management
British Business Bank
Ascension
Octopus Group
Capital Pilot
275
202
100
98
90
77
73
64
57
45
Crowdfunders announced 529 deals, down
8% since 2021. Nonetheless, the UK’s two
biggest crowdfunding platforms once
again top the ranking for most active fund
managers: Seedrs facilitated 275 equity
rounds in 2022, while Crowdcube facilitated
202. SyndicateRoom also ranks very highly,
with 90 deals.
Besides the usual culprits, this year’s
investor ranking welcomed new entrant
Capital Pilot. The startup ratings agency
manages the Boost Fund, an automated
investment vehicle backed by high-net-
worth individuals.
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data for yourself?
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in the UK’s high-growth ecosystem—from ambitious businesses and
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we’ll show you how you could:
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Explore every equity fundraising in the UK, including the
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Book a demo today to get started…
Editor


Lucy Wilson
Design

Ben Hyde
Contributors

Henry Whorwood & Dan Robinson