Market Data

2023 Market Sizing

Our annual research on the social impact market revealed that the value of social investments in the UK was worth £10bn at the end of 2023, representing more than 7,000 transactions. This results in a 12-fold increase over the last 12 years.

Our market sizing estimate includes more than 100 different funds or social investment programmes that meet our criteria of social impact investment in the UK. These organisations include fund managers, intermediaries and social banks that invest directly into social purpose organisations, projects, and real assets.

£10bn

value of social impact investment market at end of 2023, an 18% increase since 2021

– as at 31 December 2023
12x

twelve-fold growth in twelve years, increasing from £830m in 2011

– as at 31 December 2023
7,000

the total number of outstanding deals into social impact investment

– as at 31 December 2023

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Find out more about our market systems approach
Our approach

How is the market size calculated?

The UK Social impact investment market is a subset of the broader UK impact investment market. For the purposes of our market sizing exercise, we define social impact investment as:

‘Investment into social purpose organisations such as charities, social enterprises and impact start-ups, or real assets such as social and affordable housing. The investment enables them to deliver products or services that create measurable, lasting social impact that improves people’s lives. Social impact investors are seeking positive social impact as well as a financial return and both investees and investor demonstrate social impact intent.’

To calculate an estimate of the market size, we use the following methodology to guide the research.

Build and refresh the market list of impact investing organisations that meet our definition and criteria
Define the key metrics and definitions for market sizing approach

The two main metrics captured in this annual exercise include:

Size £m - Outstanding amount/value, as at the end of the calendar year. We also include an estimate of the number (i.e. # count) of transactions between Fund Manager & Frontline/Asset that make up the size £m.
Deal flow £m – The amount (and #) of new commitments made during the calendar year.

Collect and aggregate key metric data for the market list of impact investing organisations
Collate and estimate the investor composition of the market
Benchmark our findings and compare to our prior years and other organisations’ market sizing reports

Find out more about our methodology.

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Why do we carry out this exercise?

Each year since 2016, we have produced a comprehensive estimate of the size of the UK social investment market through our market data research.

As well as being an investor ourselves, Better Society Capital has a mandate to grow the wider social impact investment market. We measure the market to see how much progress is being made as well as to understand who is active in the market and where the investment is going.

Find out more about our progress in growing the market for social impact investment since 2016.

Market Data

In this section:

2023 Market Sizing

£10bn

12x

7,000

Find out more about our market systems approach

How is the market size calculated?

Who are the contributors?

In this section:

2023 Market Sizing

£10bn

12x

7,000

Find out more about our market systems approach

How is the market size calculated?

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