Why are so many IPO's leaving the UK?






Imagine this: you’ve spent years and years and YEARS growing your company from a small start-up in Bromley into a GLOBAL contender. You're BIG now, and need capital (money capital not capital capital) to grow further so that you can invest. What is your next step? To go private to public and list on the stock market to raise capital and expand further. But instead of turning to London and our beloved LSEG (london stock exchange), more and more firms are heading abroad, most often to New York.

So....Why is that happening? There are three main reasons.


1. Valuation differences

As simply put as I can, companies tend to get higher valuations in the US. A fintech or tech start-up listing on Nasdaq can be worth 20–30% more than if it listed in London. In 2021, UK tech IPOs raised around £6.6bn, while US tech IPOs raised about US $69.3bn ( which is around £47bn).

Higher valuations mean more money raised and more attractive shares for investors and this critical for high-growth companies. Lets go back to the short analogy I have earlier. You want your start up to grow. But growth needs investment. Investment needs money. Money comes from donors. Donors need confidence, If a company is valued highly, donors get confidence. Hmm, probably should have used "investors" instead of "donors".


2. Liquidity and our investor appetite

Even if London gives a decent valuation, there’s another hurdle: not enough investors willing to buy. Simply put, London’s market isn’t as deep as New York’s. Big investors like pension funds have become more conservative over the years, preferring safe, dividend-paying companies. 

That leaves fewer buyers for fast-growing, high-risk businesses. The result? Lower liquidity, smaller capital raises, and a market that can feel a little thin. For example, in the first half of 2025, London IPOs raised just £182mn across nine listings.

3. Regulation and Market Perception

Finally, there’s the issue of rules and reputation. London is well-regulated, which is great for stability, but sometimes these rules feel slow or inflexible, especially for ambitious, high-growth firms. Add to that the perception hit from Brexit, and the global spotlight increasingly shines on New York.

A US listing signals scale and credibility to international investors in a way London can’t always match. Even the numbers reflect this. Only 16 new companies listed on the LSEG in 2024, down from 42 in 2022


My personal opinion:

From reading around, I've seen London still has real strengths: transparency, infrastructure, and a long-standing reputation. But for high-growth companies chasing scale and investor enthusiasm, New York offers higher valuations, deeper capital, and a faster-moving market. Unless UK investors get bolder and reforms gain traction, the trend of IPOs leaving the UK is likely to continue.

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