Female-founded businesses got a wake up call this week - and it wasn't pretty

When I first read the UK VC & Female Founders report* earlier this week, I was stunned into silence. Actually, I’m sure I gasped out loud then fell into silent disbelief. The report is devastating and shines a great big light onto the gender bias and inequality that exists in the venture capital (VC) world for female founder businesses.

Key findings

• for every £1 of venture capital (VC) investment in the UK, all-female founder teams get less than 1p, all-male founder teams get 89p, and mixed-gender teams 10p.
• venture capital investment in start-ups with female founders is increasing but progress is very slow. At current rates, for all-female teams to reach even 10% of all deals will take more than 25 years (until 2045).
• 83% of deals that UK VCs made last year had no women at all on the founding teams.

I have spent the past 23 years navigating the corporate and entrepreneurial worlds, working and engaging with women in business teams and initiatives, joining women-led networking groups, facilitating women-focused events, supporting the #WeForShe movement at every opportunity, volunteering at women-at-work NGOs, sitting on the executive team / Board of female-centric networking associations, mentoring peers, supporting less-experienced women in my field and across other industries, contributing to online and in-person forums, and just last week – speaking on a panel at a women-centric conference. I run a business that works solely with a female client base. I am a born advocate of women.

www.thriveglobal.com

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11 February 2019