A Common Wealth study found U.S. corporate buyers accounted for 39% of first exit deals among a selected group of UK venture-backed technology firms, raising questions about domestic tech capacity.
The study did not examine every British startup sale. Its 38 UK-headquartered firms came from PitchBook’s global sample of 917 venture-backed companies whose deals ranked among the 1,000 largest exits by deal size. Common Wealth researchers Nils Peters and David Kampmann analyzed each firm’s first exit.
European corporate incumbents accounted for 26% of those first exits. The 39% and 26% figures describe shares of deal counts, not deal value. Common Wealth also found that leading UK-based venture capital firms made most of their large investments in U.S. startups.
The think tank argues that more pension money flowing into venture capital may benefit established fund managers without increasing the number of British companies able to acquire successful startups. It says overseas firms and investors benefit from the exit pattern, while a limited pool of domestic technology incumbents constrains local acquisitions.
The Guardian’s Nov. 12 editorial framed the issue as a test of UK industrial policy, arguing that investor profits alone do not demonstrate lasting growth in domestic technology capacity.
Britain’s finance ministry, HM Treasury, said in a Nov. 20, 2025, announcement that Aegon UK, NatWest Cushon and M&G were in the final approval stages to contribute to the British Growth Partnership Fund’s initial £200 million investment. The government said the fund aims to help British science and technology companies expand, remain British-owned and create skilled jobs.
As a historical example of policy support for local production, the editorial pointed to Brazil’s health system. A study in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization found Brazil produced 74.8% of the COVID-19 vaccine doses used in the country by August 2021, after public policies supported local production and procurement.
