UK Venture Capital Financial Returns 2026 (British Business Bank)

Summary

• For the headline 2002-2021 vintage period, UK venture capital funds generated a pooled TVPI multiple of 1.78, matching the US (1.78) and exceeding the rest of Europe (1.67).p.5
• UK early stage VC funds achieved a pooled TVPI of 1.85 across 2002-2024 vintages, outperforming both the US (1.81) and the rest of Europe (1.84).p.4
• UK funds from the 2020-2024 vintage cohort posted a pooled TVPI multiple of 1.40, outperforming US counterparts (1.24) and European counterparts (1.27).p.5
• Realised returns for UK VC funds over 2002-2021 lagged behind the US, with a pooled DPI of 0.62 compared to 0.83 for US funds and 0.65 for the rest of Europe.p.5
• Funds backed by the Enterprise Capital Funds (ECF) programme generated a pooled DPI multiple of 0.67 for 2006-2024 vintages, compared to 0.50 for the wider UK VC market.p.6
• Among UK private asset classes for 2002-2021 vintages, private equity and venture capital generated the highest median TVPI multiples at 1.73 and 1.42 respectively.p.35

Key insights

1. The performance gap between UK and US late stage VC funds narrowed to a pooled TVPI of 1.18 versus 1.23 for the 2020-2024 vintage cohort.p.4
2. UK VC funds are on average 21 months younger than US funds and 3 months younger than European funds in the dataset, contributing to lower relative DPI multiples.p.14
3. Successive fund analysis reveals performance persistence, with only 8.2% of top-quartile predecessors dropping into the bottom quartile in their next fund.p.39
4. Across fund sizes globally, vehicles under £50 million generated the highest pooled TVPI multiple of 2.02 for 2002-2024 vintages.p.32
5. The UK venture exit environment in the first half of 2026 was subdued, with exit volumes down by 23% compared to the same period in 2025.p.10
6. Trade sales and acquisitions accounted for over 70% of UK VC-backed exit numbers in 2025, while buyouts represented 27% and IPOs only 1%.p.12