Rising stars avoid the capital when raising capital

Spinout companies looking to scale up are shunning the London stock market, says Marcus Gibson

In early May, Vaccitech, the stellar spinout company from the University of Oxford’s Jenner Institute, chose the Nasdaq stock exchange in the US, not London, for its initial public offering. 

The decision by the firm behind AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine to list in New York is a high-profile example of a more general trend. The London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market, which aims to host small, innovative companies, is failing to attract UK university spinouts.