Q4 2023 Venture Pulse Report – UK

London attracted the lion’s share of UK VC investment in 2023, attracting S13.6bn across 1495 deals, however, this was significantly down on the $28.4bn raised by London businesses across 2086 deals in 2022.

London based businesses accounted for five of the 10 largest European fundraises in the final quarter of 2023 including the $1bn raise by communications firm DAZN whilst the $179.7m raise by Manchester based Castore also made it to the top 10 largest deals in Europe.

Outlook for Europe

VC investment into European businesses fell by over 20% in the final quarter of 2023, particularly from US investors who pulled back from making major investments in the region. While total VC investment in Europe for 2023 was down dramatically compared to the outlier years seen in 2021 and 2022, it remained on par with the level of investment seen in 2020 — and well ahead of investment in all prior years.

Collaboration is expected to be top of mind for many participants in the VC market in 2024, particularly between Corporate Venture Capitalists (CVC), existing VCs, and accelerator programmes looking to make headway on their strategic objectives while also managing their costs more effectively. The number of joint CVC funds could also rise as large CVCs look to bolster their ability to invest capital by working in tandem with others.