Who’s Backing Government Suppliers?
Where Tussell’s contract data meets Beauhurst’s funding data
Since 2015, almost over 6,000 equity rounds have been invested in UK companies that have won government contracts. These range from relatively modest five-figure sums for early-stage companies through to multi-billion-pound deals involving private equity, venture capital, and sovereign wealth funds.
By collaborating with Tussell, the UK’s leading provider of public procurement intelligence, we’ve combined our datasets to reveal these insights.
To be included in this analysis, companies must:
- Be headquartered in the UK
- Have raised at least one round of equity investment
- Been awarded a procurement contract by the UK government
Investment trends (2015–2024)
In total, there have been 6,325 equity fundraisings into government suppliers since 2015, worth a combined £37.1b, ranging from £842 to £2.7b.
Annual deal counts slid from 508 (2015) to a low of 467 (2024), while annual value grew by 213% from £876m to £2.75b in the same period. However, there are outlying peaks in 2019 (£6.89b), 2021 (£7.13b) and 2023 (£6.20b) — all driven by several megadeals.
In 2019, £2.69b was invested in Astrazeneca and, in 2023, Howden closed a £1.17b equity investment deal, Severn Trent raised £1b, whilst Oneweb’s (now eutelsat) £941m and Octopus Group’s £632m equity deals also helped round off a year of large rounds. Of the top 10 largest deals completed in the past decade, six occurred in either 2023 or 2019. Without these deals, both years would be closer to other years’ figures.
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Across most analyses, 2021 is a unique case. The year’s historic market conditions, a post-COVID year, led to a spending boom, a slew of investments and, arguably, a number of overvaluations. This is outlined in our most recent edition of The Deal, where the broader UK equity market in 2021 saw almost £30b across just under 8000 rounds, compared to 2023’s 6,885 deals worth £20.3b.
As we’ve demonstrated, the £6.20b invested into government suppliers in 2023 represents a smaller but nonetheless significant segment of the market. Some of this investment will have come before the company begins working with the public sector, with the equity investment helping to build the capacity and scale necessary to become an approved supplier. Others will have raised funding following those contracts, with investors viewing government backing as strengthening the company’s market position, and therefore a sign of a less risky investment.
Our data also reveals that Venture-stage companies are the most likely to raise (30.7%), with Seed-stage companies comprising 6.64% of deals completed.
And of the 6,325 deals completed in the last decade, only 45.2% were publicly reported, leaving almost 3,500 unannounced. We can reveal this figure using Beauhurst, the only data platform that tracks both announced and unannounced deals.
Who’s investing and which industries are they investing in?
BGF, managed by the British Growth Fund, is a serial backer of UK companies with government contracts, having participated in more rounds than any private equity or venture capital fund. In this time, it invested in RSK Group (£535m across two rounds), OrganOx (£46.4m across four rounds), and Pharmacy2U (£47m across two rounds).
Crowdfunders Crowdcube and Republic Europe (formerly Seedrs) also feature, combining for 199 rounds between the two major crowdfunding platforms.
The British Business Bank’s Future Fund is also a prolific backer of government suppliers, including semiconductor manufacturer Pragmatic and London-based AI firm Signal AI. The prevalence of the Future Fund as a backer of government suppliers is noteworthy, reflecting the overlap between the UK’s public investment initiatives and the country’s supplier base. Although the companies are double-dipping in public money, the taxpayer ultimately benefits from their success as suppliers.
Our data reveals a clear trend: investment into the tech and professional services industries.
Three of the top 10 industries — Digital and technologies, Professional and business services, and Life sciences — are part of the UK government’s eight key growth industries (IS-8) in the Modern Industrial Strategy.
Artificial intelligence is notable by its presence, being both a relatively nascent technology and only in the mainstream for the past few years. For context, government suppliers working in AI raised £53.9m across 36 fundraisings in 2015, whilst in 2024, UK AI companies with a government contract raised almost 10 times more (£493m) across more than double the number of rounds (73). CleanTech saw 86 rounds completed in 2023 worth £956m, though this dropped to £411m in 2024.
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Spotlight on suppliers
Plenty of ink has been spilt about the multi-billion-pound deals for AstraZeneca, Severn Trent, and Howden Group. What hasn’t been explored much is the early-stage companies that have become government suppliers and experienced significant growth.
Here are three that are worth another look.
Ideagen
Incorporated: 2022 (est. 1993)
Industry: Risk and compliance
Total amount raised: £181m (four rounds)
Ideagen is an East Midlands-based provider of software tools for managing risk and compliance. Although incorporated in 2022, the business was founded in 1993 and serves highly regulated industries, including life sciences, banking, finance, and insurance.
Pursuing an acquisition-focused growth strategy, Ideagen has made 37 acquisitions to date, including nine in 2025 alone. And after a decade on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), Ideagen was acquired by HgCapital in 2022.
Synthesia
Incorporated: 2017
Industry: Artificial intelligence
Total amount raised: £418m (eight rounds)
Synthesia develops text-to-video AI technology to create avatars that accurately simulate real facial expressions, enabling scalable video production. The business, which was incorporated in 2017 as a spinout from University College London, has raised £418m across eight rounds and appeared on seven high-growth lists.
In 2025, the company turned down a $3b acquisition offer by marketing software giant Adobe, with rumours now swirling of a 2026 IPO.
Incorporated: 2020
Industry: Electronics hardware
Total amount raised: £446m (10 rounds)
Nothing is a consumer electronics company that designs smartphones. Established as an innovative manufacturer of stylish handsets, the UK company’s devices are flagship models designed to compete with smartphone giants such as Google, Samsung, and Apple.
Since its incorporation in 2020, Nothing has raised £446m in investment across 10 rounds, with serial PE/VC backers including Google Ventures, Highland Europe, and the Netherlands-based EQT Ventures.
Tussell is the market’s trusted source of insights on UK government contracts & spending. Where Beauhurst provides top-tier intel for the private sector, Tussell is the market’s trusted source of insight for the public sector. Top suppliers to the government, and the government itself, harness Tussell and Beauhurst insights to make data-led decisions. Head to Tussell’s website to learn more.
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