Small Business Equity Tracker 2017

The British Business Bank partnered with Beauhurst to provide an assessment of equity finance markets to UK smaller businesses. The report covers equity investment from a wide range of funding sources including Venture Capital funds, business angels, and crowdfunding platforms to give an overall picture of equity funding conditions. The report found:

• Following five years of growth, equity deals to smaller businesses in the UK fell last year across all sectors, by 18% in terms of the number of deals and 4% in value. This was in line with a wider global slowdown in equity finance in 2016.
• There are emerging clusters of strong deal activity around the country. Technology sectors bucked the market trend as the amount invested rose to £1.7bn – the highest level on record meaning technology represented almost half (49%) by value of the total equity market.
• London continued to experience greater levels of equity investment compared to other UK regions, with £1.9bn in funding in 2016. However, the capital experienced a decrease in its share of UK deals (47%, down from 50% in 2015); a 22% decline in the total number of deals; and a drop in total investment value of 1%.

Download the Small Business Equity Investment Tracker 2017 (.pdf - 1.21 MB)