Why Beauhurst, PitchBook, and Dealroom report different investment figures
We recently published our latest quarterly report into the UK’s equity market, the State of UK Investment Q1 2025. If you haven’t already, we highly recommend giving it a read.
If you’ve been tracking equity investment trends across multiple company data providers, you may have noticed something a little frustrating. Different reports often show different totals, sometimes by a significant margin.
For example, Dealroom’s figures for Q1 2025 show $4.2b (approximately £3.18b) invested in the UK. For context, our own data on the same period puts the figure at £3.74b.
So why do the numbers vary so widely? And which is the most reliable source of truth? Read on for the answers, and to understand how each company’s methodology makes a big impact.
Why investment figures differ between company data providers
There are a number of reasons why Beauhurst data may differ from Pitchbook and Dealroom data — and other company data providers.
However, there are broadly three main reasons for this.
Three reasons that investment figures differ between company data providers
- Different definitions of genuine investment
- The use of Companies House filings vs press releases
- Scope and inclusion criteria
1) Defining investment
How we define investment
- Primary capital only (issuance of new shares)
- External capital only (not MBOs/MBIs or internal investment)
- Minority fundraises only (not acquisitions or majority fundraises)
Primary versus secondary funding
The first difference is in the definition of genuine investment.
At Beauhurst, we have a high threshold for what we determine to be genuine investment. For clarity, by ‘equity investment,’ we’re referring to the issuance and sale of new shares to fund company growth, not the resale of existing shares or other financial activity.
Some reports include primary and secondary funding as a single investment figure, which inflates the actual amount invested. Including a broader mix of liquidity events, such as merger and acquisition data, leads to higher figures. It can also give the illusion of greater depth of coverage.
For example, one deal included in Pitchbook’s Q4 2024 report and not ours is GreenScale (£1b, November 2024). The reason for this is quite simple — it wasn’t a traditional equity investment. Instead, it was money moving from a parent company (DCPT) into one of its own subsidiaries (GreenScale), which it had recently created after acquiring another business.
Because the money came from within the same group — and not from an external investor — we don’t count this as genuine equity investment in our methodology. Our reports only include funding that brings new money into a company from outside investors to support growth.
We can also see this in Dealroom’s reporting of OrganOx’s deal, which was reported in the press as $142m. However, on the Beauhurst platform, this deal is listed as a £20m equity investment.
This discrepancy arises because the investment was a combination of primary and secondary equity financing. At Beauhurst, we only include investments resulting from the issuance and sale of new shares, which in this case, we only have a verified amount of £20m based on the Companies House filings.
It may well be that the $142m is realised in due course — in which case, we would update our platform entry. However, at the time of writing, we can only evidence £20m of shares being issued so we’re cautious on advising our subscribers of a higher figure if no evidence exists to support this.
2) Methods of verifying investment
Secondly, reported investment figures will depend on how the company data platform captures and verifies the numbers.
For example, at Beauhurst, we capture UK investment primarily via share allotment forms (SH01s) submitted to Companies House. The reason for this is that an official filing is inherently more reliable than a press release.
Most other company data providers tend to rely more on press releases. But there are a number of shortcomings to tracking investment figures in this way. Namely, the figures are rarely broken down (i.e. if an investment is a combination of primary and secondary funding).
Companies House filings are also usually closer to the actual deal date, whereas press releases are often published before the deal completes.
“Misaligned timing can shift entire market trends in reports. For example, we spotted that ZEPZ’s £201m investment wasn’t reported until October, but our filing-based methodology places it in June, when the shares were actually issued.
That’s a difference of an entire quarter, which can meaningfully change growth patterns in a time-series analysis.”
As always, there are exceptions to this. We may use the press releases as the formal date of the deal if the share allotment filing comes through late, as this suggests that the deal happened earlier than Companies House received the filing.
Ultimately, the purpose of our methodology is to triangulate exactly when a deal actually took place, giving our subscribers the clearest picture.
3) Scope and inclusion criteria
Finally, different company data providers will have subtly different criteria for inclusion in investment reports. For example, the difference between a company being headquartered and operating in the UK.
Headquartered vs operating location
For reports on UK investment, we focus exclusively on UK-based companies. We define this by whether the company is headquartered in the UK, whereas other providers have included subsidiaries of global companies in their UK reports, provided that they operate in the UK.
This means their UK figures sometimes include deals involving companies that aren’t truly operating or headquartered here, as Beauhurst would define it.
Our view on this is that we believe it’s important that UK investment reports reflect activity within the UK ecosystem, not just investment loosely connected to it.
Ultimately, these differences boil down to the methodology of inclusion. None are ‘incorrect’, but it is worth examining further the reasoning behind these.
Unannounced deals: Why Beauhurst offers the most comprehensive view
Not every investment is announced to the public. In fact, a significant portion of UK equity activity happens quietly, behind closed doors.
In fact, almost 70% of the equity investments in the UK are unannounced — meaning they never appear in press releases, media articles, or on social channels.
So, how do we find them?
We don’t just rely on public announcements — our data, sourced by a dedicated data curation team, is built through a combination of:
- Official filings at Companies House (particularly SH01 forms)
- Direct tip-offs from investors, companies, and legal firms
- And our own ongoing research and verification processes
This allows us to spot deals that others miss — and they’re not just small rounds either. Some of the largest investments in recent quarters have flown under the radar of other platforms, including these Q4 2024 and Q1 2025 examples:
Why this matters
When providers rely solely on announcements, they present an incomplete picture — one that favours high-profile companies and misses a huge volume of genuine activity.
By combining official records with our own intelligence, Beauhurst offers a more accurate and complete view of the UK equity market, not just the parts that make the headlines.
A clearer picture, not a louder one
Throughout this article, we’ve explored why equity investment figures can vary so significantly between company data providers. It’s rarely a case of one being right and others being wrong. In fact, more often, it’s simply a matter of how each defines, sources, and interprets the data.
At Beauhurst, we’ve made deliberate choices about our methodology. We prioritise:
- Complete coverage of all UK equity investments, including those not announced in the press
- Verified, filing-based data over announced figures
- UK-based, growth-focused companies over looser definitions of UK presence
- Clear, consistent criteria for what counts as equity investment
These choices mean our reported figures may sometimes appear lower than others. Conversely, our unique coverage of all unannounced investments, as well as the announced ones, may mean our figures are sometimes higher than other providers’.
In our view, our investment figures are the most representative of the state of UK investment. They reflect genuine capital being invested, timed as accurately as possible, and sourced with verifiable evidence.
Our aim isn’t to inflate the numbers — it’s to provide our subscribers with the most reliable, transparent, and representative view of the UK’s equity investment landscape. Because when it comes to understanding the market, clarity always trumps noise.
Want to see the data in action? Why not take a quick online tour of the platform. And if you’d like to speak to a human, we’re always happy to chat — simply fill in the form below.
