Female founders in the UK still significantly less backed than men – ENTIQ launches support mechanism for female tech founders

The UK tech ecosystem is more diverse than other parts of the world, with startupfounders five times more likely to be female in the UK than in the US. That said,female founders in the UK are significantly less-backed by venture capital than theirmale counterparts. Last year Wayra reported that men are 86% more likely to be VCfunded than women, and 59% more likely to secure angel investment.

Evidence on the benefits of gender diversity in startup teams is strong in the US. TheVC firm First Round highlighted last year that teams with at least one female founderperform 63% better in terms of company value before and after investment, than theall-male founder teams. Further, Women who Tech have stated that female-ledstartups have 35% higher ROI when venture-backed, generating 12% higher revenuesthan male-led startups bringing in 20% more revenue.

Innovation consultancy ENTIQ, in partnership with the UK Business AngelsAssociation, has designed a dedicated programme to identify, empower, andshowcase the UK’s top female tech founders seeking finance – Fin4Fem.Through a five day course, Fin4Fem will focus on a variety of areas such as financingoptions, growth strategies and exit valuation to help best prepare female founders forfinancing their businesses while shining the light on the UK’s top investment-readyfemale tech founders.

“We launched Fin4Fem with a powerful and hopeful community. Finally experts intech and finance will come together to address the extraordinary and unnecessaryhurdles women face in business. It is time we make the incredible female founderspublic heroes of business and technological innovations.” Claire Cockerton, CEO ofENTIQ.

The programme, which launched on International Women’s Day, has been supportedby a variety of global partners, including Thomson Reuters, UK Business AngelsAssociation, Silicon Valley Bank, Lloyds Banking Group and KPMG.

“We are keen to ensure that through Fin4Fem, we can create a more level playingfield for women tech entrepreneurs across the UK, by increasing their potential togain the finance they need to build successful growth businesses,” says Jenny ToothOBE, CEO of UK Business Angels Association.

For more information, please contact

Gaia Arzilli

+44 (0) 7772 892 688