Women founders see 4% investment rise with Government-backed scheme

A UK Government-sponsored scheme to increase funding for women founders has spurred 4% more investment deals for female-founded companies than the industry average.

The Investing in Women Code Annual Report 2024 revealed that 32% of venture capital deals by signatories were made in female-founded companies, exceeding the market average of 28%. This marks the fourth consecutive year that signatories have outperformed the wider market.

“The data shows that active engagement from signatories with the Code, as a living and breathing initiative, leads to better results for women-led businesses,” said Gareth Thomas MP Minister for Small Business and Exports, Department for Business and Trade. 

The report also found that teams with at least one female founder were also more likely to reach the investment committee stage if the investment committee had over 50% female members. Membership of the Investing in Women Code also increased by 46 in the year to March 2024.

“We will double down over the next year on our efforts to increase engagement with signatories to drive commitment, secure better outcomes, and break down barriers for women entrepreneurs seeking finance,” said Thomas.

As the first recommendation of the Rose Review, the Investing in Women Code was launched in 2019. Its goal is to develop a better picture of funding for female entrepreneurs across financial services while encouraging signatories to adopt and share best practices to support women-led businesses. 

Since then, the Code has partnered with the Invest in Women Taskforce to drive impact and systematic change for women entrepreneurs in its mission to make the UK the ‘best place in the world for female founders’ and the Invest in Women Hub to improve access to finance for female founders as they start, scale and grow their businesses.

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