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We’ve been pointing out the trend for increasing deal sizes for a while now, and this course has continued into Q1 2019. This is the lowest ever proportion of deals of this size, compared with a high of 51% in Q2 2014. This fall in smaller deal numbers has coincided with an increase in the number of megadeals (deals worth £50m+), of which there were 8 this quarter. Indeed, deal sizes have been growing; this quarter saw a record median deal size of £1.5m, up from a low of £0.48m in Q2 2014.

Enigma Diagnostics had developed a small portable diagnostic kit, which could be used by medical practitioners onsite to reduce diagnosis times. Having raised over £80m in financing, Enigma tumbled into bankruptcy amidst claims of investor malpractice on the part of chief backer Porton Capital. Generally, these rescue packages only take place when companies have reached a financially unviable position under adverse conditions, and generally constitute an insignificant amount of cash. Where the acquisition terms include relaunching the old company, this is usually done via the creation of a new legal vehicle.

Tails.com, also offering an array of premium pet food products, was recently acquired by the pet food arm of Nestlé. Considering they only incorporated in 2013, that represents a remarkably quick startup-to-exit arc. Their founders include the ex-Head of Supply Chain Operations at Innocent, and the founder of Lovefilm, which was one of the UK’s first e-commerce success stories from the dot-com era of internet business (i.e. late 90s early 00s). Such an impressive management team helps to explain this startup’s rapid growth and exit.

Beauhurst’s Advanced Search tool is a great way to find companies and understand markets with a set of specific criteria. But sometimes you may not have such defined parameters, so we wanted to build a tool that helps you understand markets at a glance, even when you’re not sure what you’re looking for or aren’t looking for anything in particular. This allows you to browse through loads of new stats and graphs, grouped by topics like fundraisings, grants and people. You can break down the companies you’re looking at by sector, buzzwords, location and stage of evolution.