Deal volumes rose steadily from 153 in 2020 to a peak of 207 in 2023, before falling back to 172 in 2025, a decline of 16.9% from that peak. Average deal size moved in the opposite direction, from £1.04m in 2020 to £2.68m in 2025. The opportunity for ambitious founders is therefore significant, but so is the threshold for securing investment. Businesses that can demonstrate commercial traction and a credible route to scale are attracting more substantial backing, while those unable to move beyond early trials risk being left behind.
This shift is not unique to Infratech. The wider UK equity market saw equity investment increase 3.43% year on year to 2025, despite 7.87% fewer deals taking place.[1] Infratech’s trajectory mirrors this broader national pattern, pointing to a market favouring larger transactions and companies with a proven path to commercial deployment and scale. However, Infratech poses distinct sectoral challenges for investors, combining traditional infrastructure asset lifecycles with the risks and potential uncertainty of frontier technology adoption. It may consequently demand a “new risk-return model” from potential backers.[2)
Bridging the deployment gap
This is precisely the model Murphy Capital was built to provide. As an investor with its own infrastructure delivery operations, Murphy Capital offers its portfolio companies more than a cheque. Building on 75 years of infrastructure delivery experience, and with an £8.2bn project pipeline spanning multiple continents, Murphy Capital gives founders direct access to the live infrastructure environments that most investors simply cannot offer.
That access is designed to help businesses build the kind of commercial proof points needed to succeed in today’s more selective market. Murphy Capital can serve as an early customer, generating revenue, and as a credible reference through direct procurement. Portfolio companies gain routes into established relationships with major infrastructure clients, shortcutting adoption cycles which might otherwise take years to navigate independently.
That support can also extend beyond an initial investment. Murphy Capital’s focus on early-stage businesses means we can provide follow-on capital as portfolio companies grow, alongside the commercial and operational support needed to reach their next stage. This is increasingly important in a market where venture and growth-stage businesses accounted for almost 79% of Infratech equity investment in 2025. For founders, this means one relationship that can carry them from early commercial success through to the growth-stage funding the market is now rewarding.
The value of this support lies in helping businesses translate technical promise into commercial evidence. Live deployments can generate customer references, performance data and operational learning, giving founders a stronger basis from which to secure wider adoption and attract investment.
[1] Beauhurst Insights, 2026. “The Deal 2026”: https://www.beauhurst.com/research/the-deal-2026/
[2] McKinsey, 2021. “Making infrastructure tech a reality in your portfolio”. : https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/making-infrastructure-tech-a-reality-in-your-portfolio
Turning innovation into adoption
The headline figures from this year’s report show that capital is flowing towards companies able to demonstrate adoption and a credible route to scale. For founders, the challenge is no longer innovation alone but turning innovation into repeatable deployment.
Murphy Capital’s combination of industry expertise, customer access and infrastructure projects is designed to help technically strong businesses bridge that gap. In a market backing fewer companies with larger funding, founders that can evidence real-world performance, customer value and repeatable deployment will be best placed to attract investment and accelerate growth.
Further insight into the investment trends shaping UK Infratech is explored in full in Murphy Capital’s newly published report UK Infratech: From Innovation to Scale.
To learn more about Murphy Capital and our investment focus, visit our website www.murphy.capital.