News

In a strong indication of growing momentum within the female founder ecosystem, startups led or co‑founded by women secured over $145 million in venture capital across the UK and Europe last week. This concentrated activity reflects increasing investor confidence in women-led innovation—particularly in high-growth sectors such as AI, sustainability, cybersecurity, and e-commerce. 🔹 Treefera (UK) raised $12M to expand…

Cambridge, UK – 19 June 2025The Entrepreneurship Centre at Cambridge Judge Business School today hosted a highly anticipated Female Founders Day – Peer Mentoring event, bringing together women entrepreneurs, investors, academics, and business leaders for a day dedicated to collaboration, mentorship, and shared growth. Organised under the Accelerate Cambridge programme, the event aimed to foster stronger networks and provide…

n a bold move to address the chronic funding gap for female entrepreneurs, Angel Academe—co-founded by Sarah Turner—has launched the UK’s first Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) fund specifically dedicated to backing tech companies with women in leadership. The fund, which aims to raise £1.2 million by September 2025, is already off to a strong start with £120,000…

The British Business Bank has committed £7m to a new platform enabling it to invest alongside five emerging angel syndicates. The platform will be managed by Haatch, who are an existing partner of the Bank. The initial cohort of five angel syndicates have been selected by the British Business Bank, including two female-led groups: HERMESA and…

The Invest in Women Taskforce has unveiled the newly-selected Fund of Funds Manager – Bootstrap Europe. Bootstrap Europe will manage the groundbreaking “Women backing Women” fund. This is what Stephanie Heller, Bootstrap had to say: “As a general partner of an asset management fund and a founder of a fintech startup, I have witnessed first-hand…

The Invest in Women Hub was proud to be part of the Investing in Women Code 2025 Signatory Summit hosted in collaboration with M&G plc. The Investing in Women Code is a commitment to support the advancement of women business leaders in the United Kingdom by improving female entrepreneurs’ access to tools, resources and finance…

Applications are now open for the Morgan Stanley Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures Lab. The Morgan Stanley Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures Lab is their in-house accelerator program that provides early-stage innovators with access to capital and resources to help them develop and scale. The mission is to foster a more equitable and sustainable investment landscape.  Learn more…

A new report by the BVCA and Level 20 has found that the proportion of women working in private equity and venture capital has significantly increased over recent years. Diversity in UK Private Equity and Venture Capital 2025 report finds that 27% of UK-based investment professionals are women, this is up from 24% in 2023. The key…

UK Export Finance (UKEF) and Female Founder Finance have partnered up to help more women-owned businesses access export finance support to help grow their business and compete on the international stage.  Having launched in June 2023, Female Founder Finance has handled over £115 million worth of funding. Female Founder Finance is a women-owned organisation that…

The Female Founders Initiative, launched by the Department for Business and Trade, is bridging the funding gap for UK tech entrepreneurs. Offering mentorship, global investor promotion, and access to investment events, it paves the way for women-led innovation.