The growing impact of female founders
Following a momentous Budget, this week started with a very important day of the year, International Women’s Day. For us International Women’s Day is all about celebrating women’s achievements and taking action for equality. This comes in a number of ways, from the gender pay gap to increasing access to funding for female founders.
A recent report by UENI showed that from the 22,257 businesses surveyed, approximately 7205 were launched by female entrepreneurs. This sets the number of UK businesses currently owned by women at 32.37%, highlighting a remarkable shift from four years ago, when just 17% of founders were female. It’s great to see this increase in female entrepreneurs but at IW Capital, we believe that more can be done to help support female-owned business and create a more equal environment in the SME and startup sector.
At IW Capital we have invested in a number of female founded companies and are always looking to support what is a hugely ambitious and talented ecosystem of entrepreneurs. SMEs make up 99.9% of private sector businesses and making this sector as equal as possible will be crucial to increasing equality across the board.
Access to investment opportunities for women is not only important for helping to create an equal financial footing between men and women, but also in making businesses more aware of the changes that need to be made.
One of the female owned companies we have invested in is Hill and Friends which is a brand that produces exceptionally crafted and luxuriously functional bags, each affirmed with a subversive wink. Combining luxurious linings with refined practical details, Hill and Friends is committed to producing bags that balance everyday functionality with timeless sophistication. Using the highest quality materials, each bag is crafted with a meticulous attention to detail and subject to a rigorous multi-stage prototyping process before the first samples are made, tested and improved again.
Having provided vital growth capital to a sector and location agnostic portfolio of the UK’s high-growth businesses via equity funding under the EIS and SEIS schemes, and through secured loans via our debt arm, we are eager to continue supporting innovative UK businesses owned by female entrepreneurs. If you are a female entrepreneur with a business that needs growth investment, please reach out to us and we will be happy to see what we can do to help support your company.
To find out how IW Capital could maximise your investment opportunities, please contact the team today on 020 7015 2250, or email info@iwcapital.co.uk.