The Put money into Ladies Taskforce has achieved a big milestone by securing over £250 million in funding geared toward supporting feminine entrepreneurs throughout the UK.
This historic funding is backed by main monetary establishments and organisations, together with Barclays, M&G, the British Enterprise Financial institution, Morgan Stanley, Visa Basis, BGF, and Aviva. The funds are set to be channelled immediately by these entities or by a newly established ‘Women backing Women’ fund.
A variety course of is at the moment underway to nominate fund managers who might be liable for deploying the capital from the ‘Women backing Women’ fund. The first goal is to create one of many world’s largest funding swimming pools devoted to female-led and mixed-gender companies, offering them with the required assets to develop and thrive.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves, the primary feminine to carry the place, expressed her assist for the initiative. “We all, including myself as the first female Chancellor, have a responsibility to make the economy work better for women,” she said. “Initiatives like the Invest in Women Taskforce funding pool are a fantastic example of the public and private sectors working together to help unlock the potential of female founders and seize opportunities to fire up the government’s number one mission of economic growth.”
The funding pool might be managed by feminine funding decision-makers all through the UK, acknowledging that girls buyers are statistically twice as prone to spend money on female-led and mixed-gender enterprises. This strategy goals to dismantle systemic boundaries that ladies entrepreneurs and buyers typically face.
The announcement is available in response to current knowledge from the Taskforce indicating a decline in funding for all-female-founded companies. Within the first half of 2024, these companies obtained simply 1.8% (£145 million) of the whole fairness funding, down from 2.5% in 2023.
Debbie Wosskow, a serial entrepreneur with a number of profitable exits and co-chair of the Put money into Ladies Taskforce, commented on the necessity for change: “Female entrepreneurs and investors have been sidelined for too long—they are two sides of the same coin. It’s time we rebooted the system and gave female investors the power to drive change, and funds like the ‘Women backing Women’ fund is how we do it. I’m thrilled that investors from both the public and private sector have joined us and recognise the enormous opportunity here, but this is only the beginning. We need more investors to come aboard and join us on this journey.”
Hannah Bernard, head of enterprise banking at Barclays and co-chair of the Taskforce, highlighted the business advantages of supporting feminine entrepreneurs. “Our funding partners not only recognise the moral imperative to drive systemic change for female investors and founders, they recognise that this also makes strong commercial sense. Studies show that female-led businesses generate 35% higher returns than male-led businesses. The ‘Invest in Women’ funding pool is about changing the landscape of investment. I’m incredibly excited about what’s to come.”
The Taskforce’s efforts signify a concerted push to stage the taking part in area within the UK’s entrepreneurial panorama. By mobilising substantial monetary assets and specializing in female-led initiatives, the programme seeks to foster financial development and innovation whereas addressing long-standing gender disparities in enterprise funding.
