Just 8p of every £1 invested in UK university spinouts comes from Britain’s own investment funds, a study has found – prompting a call for the government to widen its dedicated scale-up service beyond life sciences to other frontier technologies.
The property advisory group Bidwells, which analysed data from 112 UK university spinouts, found that between 2022 and 2026 more than 80% of growth capital came from funding rounds involving at least one overseas investor. The stark reliance on foreign money has led the firm to recommend that a government scale-up service launched under the 2025 Life Sciences Sector Plan “should be widened to priority university spinouts in AI, quantum, engineering biology, semiconductors and other frontier technologies”.
“Study finds only 8p per £1 invested in UK spinouts comes from UK funds, prompting call to expand scale-up service.”
Bidwells’ research showed that life sciences and medtech account for just under half of all investment raised by UK spinouts, and 81% of that came from rounds with at least one foreign backer. “Foxley noted that life sciences and medtech account for just under half of the investment raised by UK spinouts in Bidwell’s research, with 81 per cent of that coming from funding rounds with at least one foreign investor,” the report said.
The government has yet to respond to the call to expand the service, which was originally designed to help life sciences spinouts scale up. With overseas investors dominating the funding landscape, the question now is whether ministers will act to keep Britain’s most promising tech ventures from being built on foreign capital alone.