£250m + raised for Invest in Women Taskforce from leading UK investors
The Invest in Women Taskforce today announces it has secured over £250m of funding to support female entrepreneurs in the UK. Major investors, including Barclays, M&G, the British Business Bank, Morgan Stanley, Visa Foundation, BGF and Aviva have stated their commitment to invest in female founded businesses across the country, either directly themselves or through the ‘Women backing Women’ fund.
A process has been initiated to select a fund manager(s) to deploy the ‘Women backing Women’ fund capital.
This milestone exceeds the Taskforce’s initial ambitious goal of creating one of the world’s largest investment pools of £250m for female-led and mixed businesses. Backed by chancellor Rachel Reeves in its mission to unlock future economic growth: if women started and scaled businesses at the same rate as men, it would deliver a potential £250bn boost to the UK economy.
An event to be hosted at Mansion House will officially launch the Taskforce investment pool and the fund manager selection process for the ‘Women backing Women’ fund, ahead of which the chancellor said:
“We all, including myself as the first female chancellor, have a responsibility to make the economy work better for women. Initiatives like the Invest in Women Taskforce funding pool are a fantastic example of the public and private sectors working together to help unlock the potential of female founders and seize opportunities to fire up the government’s number one mission of economic growth.”
The Invest in Women Taskforce investment pool will be deployed via female investment decision-makers across the UK, recognising that female investors are twice as likely to invest in female-led and mixed businesses, breaking down the systemic barriers faced by women entrepreneurs and investors alike.
The announcement follows data from the Taskforce revealing that all-female founded businesses received just 1.8% (£145m) of the total value of equity investment in the first half of 2024, a fall from 2.5% in 2023.
Debbie Wosskow, multi-exit entrepreneur and co-chair of the Invest in Women Taskforce, said:“Female entrepreneurs and investors have been sidelined for too long – they are two sides of the same coin. It’s time we rebooted the system and gave female investors the power to drive change, and funds like the ‘Women backing Women’ fund is how we do it. I’m thrilled that investors from both the public and private sector have joined us and recognise the enormous opportunity here, but this is only the beginning, we need more investors to come aboard and join us on this journey.”
Hannah Bernard, head of Business Banking at Barclays and co-chair of the Invest in Women Taskforce, added: “Our funding partners not only recognise the moral imperative to drive systemic change for female investors and founders, they recognise that this also makes strong commercial sense. Studies show that female-led businesses generate 35% higher returns than male-led businesses. The ‘Invest in Women’ funding pool is about changing the landscape of investment. I’m incredibly excited about what’s to come.”
