Female-led founders in the UK continue to receive just a fraction of the equity investment male-led founders do, according to the latest report of thedata for 2023, showing that just 3.5% of equity investment for the first half of 2023 went to female-led businesses, while 85.1% went to male-led firms, and 11.4% went to startups co-led by women and men.
“As a female founder that has raised quite a bit of money to fund growth, I can say that there is a serious lack of venture money available to female founders,” says Whitney Bromberg Hawkings, founder and CEO,. “For those women without access to affluent people, I cannot imagine how they would access funds for growth,” she adds.
She also added that: “More work is required if we’re to maximize the entrepreneurial potential of women in Britain. The reward on offer is huge, with the Treasury itself estimating that up to £250 billion of new value could be added to the British economy if women in the UK started and scaled new businesses at the same rate as men do. To unlock that prize, we cannot sit idly by. As politicians, we need to ensure that policies are fit for purpose, and reform them when they’re not.
Barclays Eagle Labs and AccelerateHER are launching an accelerator for female founders that is open for places until 24 November 2023