The State of UK Investment
H1 2025

At first glance, the picture doesn’t look too bleak. Investment into UK companies ticked up slightly from H2 2024 to H1 2025, with a 1.3% increase in both the number of deals and total amount raised. While that suggests some stability, the gains are marginal and they don’t hold up when we look year-on-year.

Comparing H1 2025 to H1 2024, the market has clearly contracted: deal count is down 25%, and the total amount raised has fallen by 34%. This points to a meaningful decline in overall market appetite and not just a temporary dip.

Similarly, when we compare to the previous quarter, numbers are declining — both the number of deals and the amount raised dropped by 12%.

If deal volume continues to decline at the same pace — say, another 12% drop in Q3 2025 — we could be looking at just 1,078 deals that quarter. A further 12% drop in Q4 would bring the total number of deals for the year down to just 4,647, which would mark the lowest annual deal count since 2014.

Using the same projection for the amount raised — a 12% decline each quarter until the end of 2025 — we would see £15.2b invested in 2025. That would be the lowest since 2018, and a 29% decrease from 2024.

“2025 could mark the lowest deal volume since 2014.”

In our previous report covering UK equity investment in Q1 2025, where we also saw fewer deals and less investment across the UK overall, we asked: is this the new normal? With the latest data in hand, it’s now clear that we may need to get used to lower investment volumes and cautious investor appetite.