2026年英国股票市场年度交易报告

Review of 2025Equity Deals          €    ‚  ƒ     ‚     „… Will Clark 03 Managing DirectorMercia Ventures 04 Periods of market adjustment are often described in termsof what is lost: fewer deals, slower momentum and weakersentiment. Based on the data compiled in this report, itwould be easy to say that UK founders and investors wereincreasingly cautious in 2025. Yet the more instructive rebounded sharply in 2025. Nearly 2,500 companies raisedtheir first round, and the amount invested reached a new  06 08 These are not marginal cheques. First-round deal sizesare materially larger than in previous years, suggestingthat new founders are reaching investable scale faster.    09 10 Sectorally and geographically, the same story applies.Artificial Intelligence (AI) is, admittedly, the most obviousexample, and the data leaves little room for doubt. AI As a national investor championing the ambition offounders across the UK, the shift suggests a sharpeningof focus: a clearer emphasis on strong fundamentals, truly   12  14 While the overall number of deals eased again in 2025,the amount of capital being deployed did not. Total equityinvestment rose modestly year on year, and average dealsizes continued to increase, passing £4m for the first timesince 2021. Fewer businesses received follow-on capital The data suggests an increasingly vibrant regionalpicture - the growth in first-time deals outside London,particularly in the Midlands and devolved nations,     
  16   20 For investors and founders alike, this is not a market definedby retreat, but by selection. The founders raising capitaltoday are doing so against a tougher backdrop, and that,in itself, is a signal. We partner with founders who dreambig, solve hard problems and make the impossible possible  21  Average deal size Žƒ‘‡‹2025 “‘„ŽŽ2025 “Ž‘„Œ2025 †ƒ‡‡ˆ2025 “Š„ˆ†2024 “ŽŠ„Ž2024 ŽƒŒ’‘2024 ‚ Average deal size First-time deals Number of deals Investment   ‚–ŽŒŽ†  ŽŠ„‰”  „      ŽŒŽŒƒ
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      ƒš  ’Š„Ž”  ƒ  ›€ œ „ ŽŒŽ†ƒ   •  “’„Œƒ     ŽŒŽŒ ŽŒŽŠ„ š     – First-time equity investment into UK companies rosesharply in 2025, with 2,489 companies securing theirfirst deal, up 23.6% from 2024. The rise in first-time dealssuggests a pipeline of new companies entering the equity These findings indicate selectivity is increasingly beingexercised at the earliest stage, where fewer companiesare backed but with larger cheques. In contrast, venturestage activity experienced the sharpest contraction acrossall stages, with deal volumes falling by 11.4%. This front- Notably, the total amount invested reached £6.27b, anincrease of 74.3% year on year. This surpasses the previouspeak of £5.70b in 2021 and runs counter to the broadermarket cooling since the post-pandemic period. Thisincrease was not driven solely by a higher number of deals, Deal activity at the growth stage declined at a similar paceto seed, down 7.3%, contrasting with the sharper pullback Seed stage companies continue to account for the largestshare of deal activity, despite a 7.21% decline from last year.While average deal sizes at this stage have also decreasedby 4.69%, it remained above £1.0m, exceeding levels The more moderate decline at the growth stage suggeststhat capital access for more mature companies hasremained comparatively stable. This suggests that capital Together, these trends suggest a strengthening of early-stage equity markets, characterised by both higher entry    As investors allocate more capital to fewer early-stagecompanies, lower pre-money valuations help securegrea