UK tech needs to address gender gap and invest in women

The pandemic has revealed the fundamental role of technology in society, with entrepreneurs working to find solutions to the greatest challenges. But it has also highlighted the huge inequities across every aspect of society that one can no longer knowingly support or allow. Britain’s tech industry needs to address gender gap and invest in women.

UK-based tech companies received record levels of venture capital investment in 2020, securing £10.7bn in an unprecedented year. There has been a strong start to 2021 with a number of highly anticipated tech listings and the London Stock Exchange announcing its best first quarter for IPOs since 2007. But the huge majority of this investment remains directed to men.

Access to funding is fundamental for a company’s success and female-led businesses in UK are missing out. Managing director at Merian Ventures, Alexsis de Raadt St. James and Check Warner, partner at Ada Venture, point out that London’s all-female led businesses received just £22m, less than 0.5 per cent, of the total £5.3bn VC invested into London’s tech firms in the first four months of this year, while 13 per cent went to mixed gender teams and 87 per cent to all-male founded companies.

Extend Ventures’ latest report shows Black and Multi-Ethnic entrepreneurs are at an even greater disadvantage, with 0.02 per cent of total VC invested from 2009-2019 going to Black female founders.

There is progress, however, with government committing to increase the number of female entrepreneurs by 50 per cent by 2030 and the UK tech industry working on a host of initiatives and commitments. Like the impressive female founder support programmes Alma Angels, WE-Innovate and AccelerateHER and the important work being done by organisations like Diversity in Tech, YSYS and Colorintech.

Yet female entrepreneurs largely remain a missed opportunity for investors and access to VC continues to evade minority founders. Even though women-led firms are shown to perform better over time, female entrepreneurs continue to face barriers accessing funding, particularly at the later stages of VC funding when financing rounds are larger and critical for growth.

According to Warner and de Raadt St James, last year, 77 per cent of VC funding rounds into London-based all-female teams were at seed stage or earlier, while 19 per cent were Series A and only one round was Series B, or late stage funding.

To accelerate the UK’s economic recovery and growth, the need is for brightest minds from all backgrounds to contribute. As such, Ada Ventures and Merian Ventures are partnering with London & Partners, London’s business growth agency, to launch Beyond Herizons, a 12-month programme designed specifically to target the funding gap in the UK investment ecosystem.

Beyond Herizons will support female founders who are actively seeking Series A funding to secure their next raise, helping them grow their business in the UK, US and beyond. It will help women tap into London’s extensive network of investors through a combination of entrepreneurial education, start-up business support and targeted networking opportunities.

Warner and de Raatd St. James report that in London, founders have access to more venture capital and more VC firms than anywhere else in Europe. Yet thousands of the UK’s most innovative and talented female founders struggle to find targeted support and financing for their companies.

Through transparent commitments from VC firms to create an industry free from bias, like the Diversity VC Standard, Investing in Women Code and Newton Venture Programme, combined with initiatives like Beyond Herizons, measurable impact can be achieved. This will ensure female entrepreneurs from all backgrounds can access the funding they need consistently. (The writer is our foreign correspondent based in the UK)