The UK is a global powerhouse in spinout creation. A recent report by Dealroom found that UK spinouts have raised over $19.2B in VC funding since 2020, making it the largest ecosystem in Europe.
But we are also seeing an exodus of these high-potential UK companies overseas. The UK’s challenge is not creating world-class science and technology companies; it is building the environment in which they can scale and remain here. To turn our research excellence into a driver of economic growth and national resilience, we must, as a matter of urgency, improve that environment.
There are three areas holding the spinout ecosystem back, where government has the power to make a meaningful difference.
A strategy for scale
The UK has a robust early-stage funding environment, but high-potential companies face a scarcity of UK-domiciled scaleup capital as they mature. To keep our most advanced companies anchored here in the UK, we need to mobilise domestic growth capital and make scaling in the UK cities as attractive as it is in Silicon Valley....