IP Group plc, which invests in breakthrough science and technology companies, has reported that investment in UK university spinouts reached £1.56 billion in the first half of 2026, the second-highest half-year total in a decade.
According to a new report from Parkwalk, the IP Group’s EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme) fund management operation, and analytics firm Beauhurst, IP Group and Parkwalk remained the most active investors in UK spinouts, with 42 deals over the year to H1 of 2026.
Scottish Enterprise followed with 31 deals and the British Business Bank with 24.
“The rebound was driven by a small number of large rounds,” said IP Group.
“Four deals accounted for £709m, almost half of all capital raised. Three went to advanced computing companies: Quantum Motion, Oxford Quantum Circuits – both backed by Parkwalk – and Fractile.
“Oxford Quantum Circuits’ £260m round was the largest of the period. Later-stage investment reached £760m, its highest half-year since 2021 …
“First-time equity investment fell from £148m in H1 2025 to £47.0m in H1 2026, a 68.3% drop.
“The number of first-time deals fell to 44, from a peak of 73 in H1 2021. Average deal size has more than doubled over the decade, from £3.57m to £7.24m.
“Together, these trends show capital concentrating in established spinouts while fewer new companies secure their first round. Full-year 2025 investment was £1.98bn, down 19.6% on 2024.”
IP Group CEO Greg Smith said: “British spinouts are now raising capital at a globally significant level, and international investors have taken notice.
“That is a real strength, and we should welcome it. But scale-up capital can and must be expanded at home to scale UK innovation.
“UK pension funds manage trillions of pounds, yet only a fraction reaches our most promising science-based businesses.
“By backing British science at the growth stage, more of the value created in our universities would stay here, for savers, for the economy and for the country.
“IP Group has made more later-stage investments in UK spinouts than anyone else over the past decade, and we will go further.”
Parkwalk CEO Moray Wright said: “British deeptech is attracting capital at a scale we have rarely seen, and that is something to celebrate.
“But these figures carry a clear warning. First-time investment has fallen, and the companies vital to the future of the UK economy are struggling to raise their first round.
“EIS is one of the most effective tools the UK has for backing early-stage science, and the Government should go further. Strengthening and expanding the scheme, with long-term certainty for investors, would unlock more private capital for new spinouts in every part of the country.”