Support for female entrepreneurs must go further, faster

Did you know that in 2024, women-led companies received just 5.8% of all investments, with all-female ventures capturing just 1.8% of equity funding?

This funding gap is one of a number of structural barriers to female entrepreneurship.

Despite all the advances of the last few decades, women are still missing out on the opportunity and support to thrive in business.

While female entrepreneurs now contribute £116bn to UK plc, they only represent around 20% of business owners. The UK’s Investment in Women Taskforce claims that up to £250bn of new value could be added if women started and scaled businesses at the same rate as men.

Enabling women to succeed in business isn’t just the right thing to do, it benefits all of us.

• Organisations with 30%+ female leadership achieve returns of up to 19% higher.
• ROI in women-owned ventures is double that of men-owned firms, though they secure only half the amount of investment.

This Women’s History Month, we celebrate the vital role of female founders and leaders in reshaping business. We’re proud to have supported many female leaders and entrepreneurs from businesses of all sizes, but we would love to work with more!

Supporting female founders sits close to our Corporate Partner, Jas Bhogal's heart. She says:

Working with start-ups is always a privilege, but there’s something especially rewarding about supporting female founders. I admire their resilience in securing investment despite the challenges they face. Their dedication, strength, and ability to stand their ground in tough negotiations is truly impressive.

We’ve compiled a list of resources for female founders, including funding opportunities, networking, podcasts, mentorship programmes and more which you can access here.