It’s official. More and more women are successfully setting up their own businesses. In fact, more than twice as many female-led firms were founded in 2022 than in 2018.
That’s according to the Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship (‘Rose Review’) progress report, published earlier this year and spearheaded by the CEO of our parent company NatWest Group.
And our very own UK Enterprise Funds (UKEF1 and UKEF2 – launched in 2021 and 2022 respectively and now closed to new investment) are playing a part in that change.
More than 20% of the total funding raised by UKEF1 and UKEF2 has supported businesses with women at the helm – as founders, co-founders or executive team members – as at February this year. This compares to the industry standard of just 2-5% of venture capital funding going to women-led businesses in the UK, according to a previous Rose Review report from February 2022.
UKEF: BACKING THE BEST OF BRITISH
We launched UKEF in 2021 in collaboration with BGF, one of the most active growth capital investors in the UK. It gave eligible clients the chance to invest in innovative, fast-growing British businesses, with access to a diversified portfolio of high-growth companies.
Hans Prottey, Head of Private Markets at Coutts, the team behind UKEF, said: “As well as looking for businesses with high-growth potential, we want UKEF to be a force for good.
“As part of that, we’re committed to providing growth capital regardless of gender or background. And that includes financial and non-financial support for female entrepreneurs – something that’s sadly lacked across the industry in the past.”
THREE FIRMS BENEFITTING
Here are three of the female-founded businesses that have benefitted from UKEF.
