Raising Private Equity in the UK: A Founder’s Playbook

Most founders think private equity (PE) is “just capital”. It isn’t. It’s a change in how your company is run, reported, and marketed—and if you treat it like a cash injection, you’ll get surprised (and not in a good way).

For UK startups and scaleups building for the Climate Change & Net Zero Transition—renewables, sustainable logistics, energy efficiency, circular economy, climate software—PE can be a powerful route to scale. But investors don’t back your mission statement. They back a business that can compound value and exit in a defined window.

Here’s a practical guide to raising private equity in the UK, with a strong stance: your marketing and your fundraising are the same story told to different audiences. If you can’t explain your growth engine to customers, you won’t convince an investment committee either.

Private equity in the UK: what it really is (and what it isn’t)

Private equity is growth capital plus control mechanics. In the most common model, a PE firm raises money from institutions (pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments), buys a meaningful stake (often majority) in a private company, and targets an exit in roughly 3–7 years.

That timeline shapes everything:

• PE is not patient capital in the way many founders imagine. The clock starts at deal close.
• PE firms typically bring governance upgrades: reporting cadence, board discipline, hiring plans, KPI ownership.
• Your equity becomes a tool for alignment: management incentives, option pools, and “rollover” equity for founders.

In the Growth Business guide, Rob Myers (Equistone) describes PE’s central role in UK mid-market funding and the usual structure: management runs day-to-day, investors provide strategic support, then the company exits via sale or listing.

Net-zero angle: PE is increasingly interested in businesses that can ride regulatory shifts, customer procurement policies, and decarbonisation budgets. But the bar is high: you’ll need to show you can win contracts, retain customers, and defend margins—not just reduce emissions.

The market reality in 2025–2026: capital is available, scrutiny is up

Answer first: there’s money in the system, but deals are taking longer and investors are pickier.

The source article references KPMG commentary that the UK private equity rebound seen in 2024 stalled in the first half of 2025, with activity dipping to the lowest level since 2020. It also highlights ongoing volatility driven by economic uncertainty and geopolitics—meaning fewer rushed processes and more diligence.

At the same time, the article notes enormous levels of “dry powder” (capital waiting to be deployed). Whether or not you agree with the exact headline number, the practical takeaway is right: PE firms are under pressure to invest, and that creates opportunity for prepared companies.

What this means for a climate / net-zero startup or scaleup:

• If you can prove demand (recurring revenue, multi-site rollout, strong churn/retention), you’ll get attention.
• If your unit economics depend on subsidies or one-off grant cycles, expect hard questions.
• If your story relies on “the market will shift soon,” you’re not ready for PE.

What PE investors actually look for (and how marketing supports it)

Answer first: PE backs predictable growth plus a credible plan to professionalise. Your marketing should make that plan obvious.

PE firms don’t just buy financial performance; they buy a narrative they can underwrite. Your “investor story” is basically your go-to-market strategy, sharpened.

The PE checklist founders should build around

Here’s what I’ve found matters most in UK PE processes—especially in sectors tied to the net-zero transition:

1. Proof of repeatable customer acquisition
   • Not “we can sell,” but how you sell, how long it takes, what it costs, and what happens after onboarding.
2. Five-year value creation logic
   • PE needs a plausible route to a materially bigger business within an exit window.
3. Operational grip
   • Strong finance function, clear KPIs, forecast accuracy, and the ability to integrate acquisitions if you’re doing buy-and-build.
4. Margin resilience
   • In energy and sustainability markets, input costs and supply chains can move fast. You need pricing power or efficiency.
5. A leadership team beyond the founder
   • PE loves a founder—but hates key-person risk.

Why brand and investor relations go hand-in-hand

If you’re raising PE, your marketing shouldn’t be a brochure. It should act like evidence.

• Case studies demonstrate measurable outcomes (e.g., “reduced energy use by 18% across 40 sites”).
• Thought leadership signals category authority (useful in fragmented sustainability markets).
• Pipeline reporting and attribution show a working demand engine.
• Customer references reduce perceived risk faster than any slide.

Snippet-worthy truth: A strong brand doesn’t replace numbers—but it reduces the discount investors apply to your numbers.

How the process works: the steps you’ll actually live through

Answer first: the fundraising process is a project with deliverables, deadlines, and fatigue—plan for it like a product launch.

A typical UK private equity raise (especially mid-market) often looks like this:

1) Preparation (4–8+ weeks)

You’ll build your “deal machine”:

• A tight equity story (why you win, why now, why this team)
• A model that ties growth drivers to financials
• Customer cohort and retention views (if relevant)
• A data room that won’t embarrass you

If you’re in climate tech or a net-zero services business, add:

• Evidence that your impact claims stand up (methodology, baselines, measurement)
• Procurement readiness (compliance, SLAs, delivery capability)
• Any exposure to regulation (and how you manage it)

2) Adviser selection and targeting

The article’s company examples highlight a common pattern: founders use advisers to create a long list, shortlist, and manage outreach.

My stance: good advisers don’t “find money”; they reduce unforced errors—positioning, process discipline, and negotiation structure.

3) Management presentations and diligence

Expect deep workstreams:

• Financial, tax, legal
• Commercial diligence (market sizing, competitor mapping)
• Tech/ops diligence (systems, security, scalability)

If you sell into sustainability budgets, be ready for a specific diligence question: “Is this a ‘nice-to-have’ or a ‘must-have’?” The best answers point to compliance requirements, cost savings, or operational risk reduction.

4) Negotiation: valuation is not the whole deal

Founders fixate on headline valuation. PE focuses on:

• Governance rights and board composition
• Leverage (how much debt is added to the business)
• Management incentive plans
• Earn-outs, warranties, and indemnities

A practical rule: a slightly lower valuation with a clean structure often beats a higher valuation with aggressive leverage and tight covenants.

Lessons from UK PE-backed growth stories (and what to copy)

Answer first: the best PE outcomes happen when investors and management agree on the operating plan, not just the price.

The source guide includes several useful examples. Three patterns show up that founders should steal.

Innovate: values alignment beats a price-first mindset

Innovate, an education catering business, took £8.5m from Bridges Fund Management for a majority stake (investment dated 2018 in the story). What’s memorable isn’t the number—it’s the approach:

• Early conversations focused on strategy and impact
• Trust-building happened before valuation became the main topic
• Capital went into management, systems, and contract onboarding capacity

For net-zero businesses, this matters because many PE funds now have sustainability theses. Don’t treat that as a checkbox. Treat it as a filter for long-term fit.

ZyroFisher: non-financial value is real value

ZyroFisher’s CEO frames PE as more than money: contacts, know-how, and a platform for expansion (their example: moving into France).

Translate this to climate and net zero:

• If you want to expand into Europe, a PE partner with cross-border experience can compress your learning curve.
• If your growth depends on partnerships (installers, EPCs, utilities), investor networks can accelerate distribution.

David Phillips: “professionalising” is why many deals happen

David Phillips raised £8m and describes how the big change came after investment—improving systems, processes, and structural profitability.

That’s a direct parallel to many net-zero scaleups that start with founder hustle and then hit operational bottlenecks:

• delivery capacity
• project management discipline
• QA and compliance
• margin leakage

PE can fix these, but only if you’re honest about where the business is messy.

Trust is a diligence asset. If investors find surprises late, they price the risk—or walk.

A founder’s private equity readiness checklist (UK-focused)

Answer first: if you can’t answer these in plain English with evidence, delay the PE process and fix the gaps.

Use this as a pre-flight checklist:

Commercial proof

• Can we show repeatable demand (pipeline stages, conversion rates, sales cycle)?
• Do we have 3–5 customer stories with measured outcomes?
• Are we clear on who our buyer is (CFO, sustainability lead, operations director) and why they buy?

Financial and operational control

• Monthly reporting pack that a board would respect
• Forecast accuracy (and an explanation when it’s wrong)
• Margin by product line / customer segment
• A clear view of working capital needs (especially important for project-based sustainability work)

Net-zero credibility

• Impact measurement approach that avoids greenwashing traps
• Clear boundaries: what you measure, what you don’t
• Customer procurement documentation ready (policies, insurance, security)

Marketing assets that help close the deal

• Category positioning: what you do that competitors can’t credibly claim
• A narrative that connects: problem → proof → scale plan → exit logic
• Founder and exec visibility (press, podcasts, speaking) that supports credibility

What to do next: make fundraising a marketing project (because it is)

Private equity fundraising goes better when you treat it like a coordinated campaign: consistent messaging, proof points, and repeatable materials. If you’re building in the Climate Change & Net Zero Transition, you also have an advantage: customers and regulators are pushing the same direction. Use that momentum, but don’t hide behind it.

Your next steps for the next 30 days:

1. Write your one-page “investment story” in plain English.
2. Publish two customer case studies with numbers (even if anonymised).
3. Build a KPI dashboard that ties marketing → pipeline → revenue → retention.
4. Pressure-test your exit logic: who buys this business in 3–7 years, and why?

The founders who win PE rounds aren’t the ones with the flashiest decks. They’re the ones who can prove, calmly and repeatedly, that demand exists and the business can scale without snapping.

If you had to pick one change that would make investors believe your net-zero growth story faster—would it be stronger numbers, or clearer proof from customers?