Private equity and venture capital investment will play a crucial role in supporting the UK economy as we begin the recovery from the pandemic, according to a new report.
The British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association’s (BVCA) ‘New Horizons’ report highlights more than 30 examples of private equity and venture capital investments in companies which are supporting the economic recovery post-COVID, providing opportunities across the UK’s regions, driving UK global competitiveness, and working towards Net Zero.
Each story illustrates how private equity or venture capital support and expertise has enabled the company to navigate the pandemic successfully, scale up to meet the demands of their customers and continually contribute to the UK economy through job creation, increased productivity, innovative new products and ideas or international exports.
Businesses from all sectors are featured, with studies from across a number of technology disciplines, healthcare, consumer retail, real estate, pharmaceuticals and agriculture and include household names such as Purple Bricks, Shazam and Skyscanner among others.
To provide further insight to the contributions made by PE and VC, the report also collates the latest industry-wide statistics. Highlights include that:
The UK is home to 35 per cent of Europe’s ‘unicorns’, with six of those located in the North West of England.
The typical angel and VC-backed business is also 60 per cent more productive per worker than the UK private sector average, contributing GBP88,100 per annum to UK GDP compared to GBP54,700.
Some 63 per cent of private equity companies take ESG principles into account when making investments, and 48% now report, in detail, on the ESG impact of their portfolio companies to institutional investors, like pensions funds or insurance companies.
Michael Moore, BVCA Director General, says: “Responsible businesses recognise that in addition to generating economic value for the country they must also produce social value, bringing the two elements together to create public value.
“At a time of unprecedented challenges, private equity and venture capital investments are supporting UK businesses to recover, to provide benefits across the nations and regions of the UK, to compete on a global platform, and to work towards Net Zero. This is the public value which private equity and venture capital investment is proud to bring to the UK.”
