Invest in Women Taskforce

📢 𝗟𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵, 𝘄𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 £𝟮𝟱𝟬 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 📢   The response we have received has been nothing short of extraordinary. Fund of Fund Managers, General Partners, and founders alike have reached out with questions and messages of support – proving just how vital this initiative is in transforming the investment landscape.   📽️ 𝗪𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 ‘𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻’ 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂? 📽️ ️ To help answer that, we sat down with the co-chairs of the Invest in Women Taskforce. In this video, they explore the transformative potential of the Women backing Women fund and what this means for each of you.   Please stay tuned for updates on our LinkedIn as we continue to progress the funding activity. As Debbie Wosskow, OBE so aptly mentions “We’ve made a start, but this is just the beginning”...    Reminder that our Request for Proposal process is OPEN for Fund of Fund Managers until the 23rd of December – find out more information on how to submit here: https://lnkd.in/eHDP3ChX   Debbie Wosskow, OBE, Hannah Bernard OBE   #InvestinWomen #WomenbackingWomen #Funding #Investing

👏🏻 👏🏻 The IWT’s Ecosystem Working Group, led by our co-chair Hannah Bernard OBE has been hard at work. It’s goal in the long run is simple yet profound: 30% of businesses being female-powered by 2030 ✅ We believe in having bold goals with a clear plan of action. Here’s how we’re targeting achieving this number: Step 1️⃣: Transform The Pipeline We want to enable more women to start businesses and drive awareness of support available to them. Let’s break down barriers to entrepreneurship that prevent female founders from scaling. Step 2️⃣: Create The Right Conditions We’re aiming to set the right environment for female-powered businesses to grow — through provision of skills, networks and opportunities across the UK. Step 3️⃣: Bring Systemic Change The EWG with the motto of “enable the ecosystem” is focused on identifying and advocating for policy recommendations to address systemic barriers faced by female entrepreneurs and investors. Together, by harnessing the power of cross-industry collaboration and expertise, let’s make the UK the best place in the world to be a female founder!

Are you an Investing in Women Code signatory? If not, why not? Join 280 signatories who are seeking to support UK female founders. We are looking for... 🤝 Limited Partners 🚀 VC 😇 Angels 🏦 Bank and non-bank lenders 💚 Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) To become a signatory to the Investing in Women Code, sign up here: https://lnkd.in/ekAXsE4e And find out more about what it means to be a signatory: https://lnkd.in/ev8iCZC4 British Business Bank, UK Business Angels Association, UK Finance, Responsible Finance, British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA), Invest in Women Hub 📸 Albion Capital Group LLP, a signatory taking action, from our 2024 report

We’re almost at 10,000 of you here! 🙌🏻 We love to see so many allies sharing our vision of making the UK the go-to place for female founders 🤝🏻 🤝🏻 🤝🏻 We also have a whole bunch of new people tuning in every month. To all those new here: the IWT’s goal remains simple - to support women at every stage, from start-up to scale-up. How do we do this? 1️⃣ 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 By bringing together experts from across the public and private sector - we have the expertise, resources and ambition to truly shift the dial for female entrepreneurs and investors. 2️⃣ 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 To drive sustainable and systemic change - we need to first break down the barriers to opportunity, and provide more women with the access to capital they need to thrive. 3️⃣  𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 Collective industry action is key to address the under-representation of female founders and investors. Commitment of dedicated capital is only the first step to solving the mammoth problem in front of us. We’re more determined than ever for 2025 to be the year we create meaningful change and create more opportunities for women to thrive. Join us on our mission by hitting follow: Invest in Women Taskforce.

🎮 Making the UK the best place in the world to be a female founder isn’t a single player game! It’s a team effort made possible by: → Our co-chairs → Our private partners → Our board members → The support of the UK Government But above all - YOU. Yes. All of you reading this have been a key part of our mission ✅ Spotlighting female founders and enabling the growth of female-powered businesses would be impossible without your support. Bringing diverse expertise and perspectives across industries has been key to breaking down systemic barriers and creating investing opportunities for women. We appreciate you being here and tuning into our content. We couldn’t do what we do without you. 2025 will be the year we change the funding game together 🙌🏻 🙌🏻 🙌🏻

The highest ROI for the UK in 2025? Investing in women 🙌🏻  Hear us out! ⬇️ Currently - female founders get just 1.8% of total investment. A big driver of this: women only make up 11% of senior investment teams in PE & VC. But female investors are 2X more likely to back female founders. And female-led businesses deliver 35% higher returns for investors. If female-powered businesses were to be backed at the same rate as male-led ones… The UK could have an extra £250bn on the table! The stakes are high. Let’s back our amazing female talent together 👊🏻

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 $2.5-5 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐕𝐂 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐝! Last year, Smart Society Ventures published research on the gender gap in late-stage VC. The white paper titled “The Missing Middle” highlighted some critical disparities about female representation in VC. → Just 12% of founding partners and directors at scale-up funds are female. → And 6/10 VC firms have no female representation at all. This leadership imbalance has a direct negative impact on the capital that female founders have access to. Female VC partners are 2x more likely to invest in female founders so a lack of female representation in senior roles in VC means fewer female-led businesses get funded. With female-led and mixed investing teams consistently outperforming male-only ones, this lack of diversity causes everyone to lose from an ROI perspective. Curious to read SSV’s full white paper? We've linked it in the comments ⬇️

“𝐈𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧-𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬”. 👂🏻 Hear from our co-chair Hannah Bernard OBE about why angel investors might just be the key to the success and growth of female-powered businesses.. Female angels have 👇🏻 - been involved in deals worth £2.34 billion over the past decade, - backed over 4,000 businesses – including over 1,000 female-founded businesses, - and helped to create more than 10,000 jobs! Research shows for that who’s investing will directly impact who gets the investment. Diversity of the investment community is a pre-requisite for diverse deal flows. This diversity isn’t limited to just different genders and backgrounds - but also about the physical locations where capital is concentrated. Nearly 56% of angels were based in London and the South East in 2019. And this geographic imbalance has persisted over the last few years. As Hannah says : “We need to strive for; an investment landscape that reflects society and generates value and economic growth – together we can build a more inclusive and accessible ecosystem where every woman has the opportunity to thrive” 👀 Check out this recent City AM feature that deep dives into Hannah’s thoughts on the critical link between female-powered businesses and female angel investors? https://lnkd.in/ebit3ECc

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to closing the gender investment gap. 💡A good place to start: putting more money in the hands of female investors. There’s no denying the facts: - Only 11% of senior investment roles at U.K. firms are held by women - Just 14% of angel investors are female. Why is this a problem? It limits the heights female founders can soar to 👎🏻 When you walk into the room as a female founder to pitch, you’re likely to be facing only male investors. While we love our male allies, the fact is that women are twice as likely to back women. If there are little to no women in the room: fewer female founders receive funding. For too long now, incredibly innovative female founders have been held back. Without female representation in positions that control the flow of capital, investment opportunities will remain imbalanced ❌ The IWT is addressing this by uniting the public and private sectors to challenge the status quo and drive meaningful, systemic change on both sides of the table. ✅ Want to join us on this journey? Head to our website to learn more about our mission and how you can get involved 👇🏻 https://lnkd.in/eHDP3ChX

Looking to raise capital in 2025? 💡💡💡 We have some news for you! Sie Ventures are a London-based Venture Capital and Private Equity firm that invests in early-stage startups with female co-founders and applications are now open for their flagship Catalyst Program’s 6th cohort! ➡️ 15 female-powered businesses will be selected and given access to workshops and mentorship from industry leaders. ➡️ At the end of the program, they will have a chance to pitch to leading institutional investors. Sie have enabled over £150mn+ in funding for their community of founders! 💷 We love championing initiatives that increase the flow of capital going to female founders. 👉Apply here: https://lnkd.in/esxwFN_G (Deadline: March 1st)