Fund Her North celebrates second birthday
Fund Her North is celebrating its second birthday, having successfully closed 14 deals leveraging a total of £4.5m for female founded businesses, and reaching 500 members.
Established in 2020, Fund Her North is made up of over 32 northern women from venture capital firms, funding organisations and angel groups. Together, they have a combined investment power of over £650m. Fund Her North was founded by Helen Oldham, Jordan Dargue Jess Jackson, Charlotte Ashton, and Chi-chi Ekweozor.
The organisation was established in light of The Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship. The report found that advancing female entrepreneurship represents a £250bn opportunity for the UK economy. Fund Her North’s goal is to ensure that female founders and investors across the region are aware of the support, network, and capital available to them.
Fund Her North launched the all-female angel investment syndicate, Women Angels of the North (WAOTN) in August 2021. Working to support female founders operating across the innovation and creative sectors in the North, WAOTN brings female investors together with a joint mission of supporting female entrepreneurs. A key part of this has been the Women Angels Education Hub, a learning platform for women looking to find out more about angel investing.
Since its launch, WAOTN has supported 12 investments worth a total of £3.1 million. This has included investments into Sheffield’s Natterhub, Manchester’s Chu-Lo Drinks and Daresbury’s Agile Life Sciences.
Sheffield-based Holly Health is another business that has been supported by Fund Her North in the last year. Founded by Grace Gimson and Dr Claire Wu in 2020, Holly Health is a personalised health behaviour change app. Using artificial intelligence to provide a tailored service, Holly Health helps with issues such as stress, wellbeing, sleep and weight management, by launching with NHS primary care providers.
The business was first introduced to Fund Her North via P4SY Accelerator Programme, a partner of NorthInvest which was created to support the soft landing and scaling of health and med tech companies in the region. It is part of the TEAM SY project, part funded by ERDF and lead by Capital Enterprise and Barnsley Council. Holly Health eventually came to WAOTN, whose members banded together to support it with a funding round.
Jordan Dargue, co-founder of Fund Her North and the Women Angels of the North Syndicate, said: “When we first got together in 2020 to discuss our frustrations around the barriers facing female founders, we weren’t sure what the solution was, but knew that we could achieve more by working together. Fast forward two years and I’m so proud of the progress we have made, establishing a diverse community in Fund Her North and creating the North’s only all-female syndicate in Women Angels of the North.
“Not only have we been able to support fantastic businesses like Holly Health in accessing vital funding, but we have been able to drive a conversation that has been needed having for years. While much more is still to be done – the finance community remains dominated by men, and women still face incredibly unequal obstacles – I’m proud to be part of this inspiring community of women.”
