{"id":20054,"date":"2023-11-06T22:53:57","date_gmt":"2023-11-06T22:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/startups\/just-3-5-of-equity-investment-for-the-first-half-of-2023-went-to-female-led-businesses\/"},"modified":"2023-11-06T22:53:59","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T22:53:59","slug":"just-3-5-of-equity-investment-for-the-first-half-of-2023-went-to-female-led-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=20054","title":{"rendered":"Just 3.5% Of Equity Investment For The First Half Of 2023 Went To Female-Led Businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

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 the Female Founders Forum \u2013 a project of The Entrepreneurs Network and Barclays.<\/p>\n

Accelerate to Excel<\/em>, the latest annual report from the Female Founders Forum, reveals the latest to Beauhurst data 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. In terms of the number of deals being agreed, the picture is a little better, but female-led startups still comprise just 10% of the total number, compared to 75% involving male-led startups, and 15% involving startups co-led by women and men.<\/p>\n

Over the years, the Female Founders Forum has taken a research-led approach to tackling these problems through policies and practical efforts. Perhaps unsurprisingly, our findings matches the experience of female founders on the ground, running some of the UK\u2019s most successful companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs 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,\u201d says Whitney Bromberg Hawkings, founder and CEO, FLOWERBX. \u201cFor those women without access to affluent people, I cannot imagine how they would access funds for growth,\u201d she adds. \u201cMany investors assume women are \u201cgoing to be weaker than male peers,\u201d explains Deirdre McGettrick, co-founder and CEO, ufurnish.com. Jordan Brompton, Co-Founder, myenergi says: \u201cFinance equality shouldn\u2019t be something that we have to talk about in 2023, but unfortunately it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Elsie Rutterford, founder of BYBI highlights the importance of mentoring: \u201cWith the percentage of female founders or leaders being lower than men, it can mean finding female mentors or advisors can be tricky as the pool is simply smaller. That smaller volume of role models also impacts your belief of a female that founding and exiting a startup successfully is doable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Childcare costs also feature high. Sarah Hesz, co-founder, Bubble: \u201cChildcare is part of the invisible infrastructure that is vital for every business to thrive, but for many founders it presents a huge barrier \u2013 financially, emotionally and logistically. UK childcare is expensive and inflexible, forcing female founders to make very tough career choices.\u201d For Justine Roberts CBE, founder and CEO of Mumsnet: \u201cIn the next five years I\u2019d like to see a massive improvement in the UK\u2019s childcare system so that entrepreneurs who are also mums aren\u2019t forced out of work by the expense of childcare.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report puts forward a number of policy recommendations \u2013 from suggesting the government more rigorously evaluates interventions to support female entrepreneurs to ensure they are delivering effectively, to going further to make childcare less expensive, the high cost of which often prevents women from returning to work or starting a business after giving birth.<\/p>\n

The report was endorsed with a foreword from the Rt Hon Caroline Nokes MP,<\/strong> Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, who wrote: \u201cAs The Entrepreneurs Network and Barclays have tirelessly shown over the years since setting up the Female Founders Forum, women in particular face a host of unique challenges when it comes to enterprise. At just about every turn, female entrepreneurs experience obstacles that their male counterparts do not have to deal with \u2013 whether that\u2019s when they\u2019re raising investment or simply being taken seriously in business.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also added that: \u201cMore work is required if we\u2019re to maximize the entrepreneurial potential of women in Britain. The reward on offer is huge, with the Treasury itself estimating that up to \u00a3250 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\u2019re not. We must work harder to close the gender funding gap, incentivise more women to become investors and put more resources into entrepreneurship education. In the private sector, business leaders and investors need to give women entrepreneurs a fairer hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commenting on the launch of the report, Juliet Gouldman, Director, Business Banking at Barclays, said: \u201cAt Barclays, we want to be a partner for growth and help all women in business realize their ambitions. It is immensely rewarding to see the positive progress made from the concerted efforts across the financial services industry, education institutions and government to lower the barriers to female entrepreneurialism. However, the systemic issues identified will not be resolved overnight, so an ongoing determination will be required if we are to achieve lasting change.\u201d<\/p>\n

To that end, Barclays Eagle Labs and AccelerateHER are launching an accelerator for female founders that is open for places until 24 November 2023. Over nine weeks It will support 100 innovative, female-led technology businesses, and see founders work with experts from across the entrepreneurial landscape in a series of masterclasses, with the focus on developing their business propositions further.<\/p>\n

The equity funding gap won\u2019t be closed by one accelerator, nor will it be solved by one report or policy change. But each and every action \u2013 practical and political \u2013 can be a step in the right direction. Just ask the members of the Female Founders Forum, who against the odds have raised millions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 the Female Founders Forum \u2013 a project of The Entrepreneurs Network and Barclays. Accelerate to Excel, the latest annual report from the Female Founders Forum, reveals the latest to Beauhurst data […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20054","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-startups"},"yoast_head":"\nJust 3.5% Of Equity Investment For The First Half Of 2023 Went To Female-Led Businesses | Brandiary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"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 the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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