Under the Radar: 2024's Unannounced Equity Fundraisings
Last week, we brought you our exclusive annual report, The Deal — and there was something particularly special about this edition. For the first time, we also included unannounced deal data.
This look into unannounced deals brings you unparalleled insight into the transactions that didn’t make the headlines in 2024. By looking into these undisclosed fundraises, we’re offering a deeper understanding of emerging trends, key industry movements, and the strategic decisions shaping the market, before they become public knowledge.
What is unannounced deal data?
Unannounced deal data refers to information about fundraises, investments, mergers, acquisitions, or other corporate transactions that have not been publicly disclosed in the media.
This data is sourced from industry insiders, regulatory filings, or private disclosures before they are officially announced through press releases or financial reports, and verified by our in-house data team. If you have access to Beauhurst, you can find this unannounced deal data straight from our platform — without trawling through regulatory filings.
Why is unannounced deal data useful?
Approximately 70% of equity deals in the UK are not publicly announced, leaving a significant portion of the market hidden from traditional data sources.
What we do is uniquely capture this unannounced fundraising data, providing comprehensive insights into investment trends and opportunities that others miss. This exclusive access enables users to better inform their strategies, obtain more accurate deal comparisons, fully understand market dynamics, and identify potential companies for partnerships or investments that remain undiscovered by competitors.
The benefits of having access to unannounced deal data
Investment and trading insights
Investors can use this data to understand market movements, regional growth, and industry trends before the broader market reacts.
Competitive intelligence
Companies and advisors can monitor investments or strategic moves by competitors to inform their own business strategies.
M&A advisory and deal sourcing
Investment banks, private equity firms, and corporate development teams can use this data to identify opportunities early and proactively engage in deals or find partners.
Regulatory and risk analysis
Legal and compliance teams can assess potential concerns, regulatory impacts, and due diligence requirements before deals are made public.
Media and research advantage
It can also give journalists and analysts the upper hand. So they can uncover trends, validate rumors, and break news before official announcements.
The Deal 2024
Methodology
- Unannounced before 8 January 2025
- Some form of equity investment
- Secured by a non-listed UK company
- Non-UK companies
- Purely not-for-profit companies
- Companies whose shares have been listed on a stock exchange
- Companies that are majority-owned by a fund or another company
- 'Project companies', like those formed to create a film, stage a play, or to undertake a property project
Unannounced deal data 2024
Regional analysis
As we saw with announced deals in our annual report, London took the top spot for both number of deals and amount invested. There were 1,673 unannounced investments into London-based companies in 2024. This equates to 52.6% of deals in the UK — a 1.1 percentage point increase from 2023. In terms of pounds invested, the capital also secured the top spot, with 63.8% of the UK total, a 2.2 percentage point increase from 2023.
This is a contrast to what we saw in our announced deal analysis, where London decreased proportionally in both number of deals and amount raised compared to 2023.
The South East had the second highest percentage of deals — 12.1% of all unannounced deals. It also came in second place for the proportion of the amount raised in the UK — 9.3%. And while this is a high proportion, it’s the biggest decline across any region compared to 2023, a decrease of 4.3 percentage points.
Scotland had 113 unannounced deals in 2024, 3.6% of all deals. Companies in Scotland raised a total of £100m in unannounced funding in 2024, 2.7% of all unannounced pounds invested into private companies in 2024. Wales secured 2.0%of unannounced deals (63) and Northern Irish companies secured just 1.0% (32).
Company stage of evolution
In 2024, we’ve seen a drop in the number of unannounced deals across all company stages of evolution compared to 2023, which is in line with the broader trend of decreasing fundraisings and investment levels.
Most significantly, the Growth stage of evolution saw a 43% decrease in the unannounced amount invested from 2023 to 2024, although only a 19% decrease in the number of deals secured by companies in the Growth stage.
Bucking the overall trend, Established companies had an increase in unannounced amount invested from 2023 to 2024 — £498k to £579k. However, Established companies still had a 33% decrease in the number of deals secured.
Industries
IT, telecommunications and data companies had a significant increase in proportional amount of investment from 2023 to 2024. In 2023, companies in the IT, telecommunications and data industry raised a total of £1.25b in unannounced funding, 24.6% of the total. In 2024, this increased to £1.53b, 39.6% of the total — a 15 percentage point increase.
However it’s not the industry that secured the most investment. Coming in at the top spot, software companies secured 1,666 unannounced deals, totalling £1.67b raised in 2024. This is 51.3% and 43.1% of the total unannounced investment in the UK in 2024 respectively.
The supply chain and manufacturing industry had 993 unannounced deals in 2024 (30.6% of all unannounced deals) and raised a total of £900m (23.3% of all unannounced investment).
The lifestyle and entertainment industry had the fourth highest number of unannounced deals (780) though the total amount invested of £572m was sixth highest.
How does Beauhurst find unannounced fundraises?
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