Private Capital in the South West 2026

The South West’s growth story is built on turning strong ideas into strong companies. Investment and university spinouts are two of the clearest signals of the region’s potential.

In 2025, private capital had a strong year in the South West with over £2.8 billion of investment, highlighting the wealth and diversity of a region filled with exciting businesses and opportunities for growth. At the same time, a stronger spinout pipeline is emerging from world leading universities like Bristol, Exeter, Bath and Falmouth that are creating more opportunities to back innovative companies from the earliest stages.

That combination matters because it connects new ideas with long-term backing. When capital meets ambition, businesses can invest in people, productivity and export growth. The evidence in this report shows private capital is already helping to turn the South West’s strengths in sectors such 
as AI, quantum and climate focused deep tech into firms that can scale.

This support is already showing up in the real economy. Private capital-backed companies are creating jobs and investing for the long-term across the South West. Today, the industry backs 641 businesses and supports 165,000 jobs, contributing £11bn of GDP annually. Those headline figures sit behind thousands of day-to-day decisions in firms right across the economy.

There is still more we can do to unlock private capital’s full potential in the South West. Policymakers, regulators and industry all have a role to play. We need to make sure that the policy and regulatory environment helps firms make the jump from start-up to scale-up, widens access to skills and talent, and ensures infrastructure supports growth in every part of the region and across our United Kingdom.