London & Partners launches new programme to tackle gender gap in funding; selects 15 female founders

According to recent data from Dealroom.co and London & Partners, London’s all-female-led businesses received just £22M, less than 0.5 per cent, of the total £5.3B venture capital invested into London’s tech firms in the first four months of this year. Research from Extend Ventures also shows Black and Multi-Ethnic entrepreneurs are at an even greater disadvantage, with 0.02 per cent of total VC invested from 2009-2019 going to Black female founders.

The Beyond HERizons programme

Access to capital is something that is required for a company’s success and the female-led businesses are missing out. In a recent development, London & Partners is launching the Beyond HERizons programme to target the funding gap that exists in the investment landscape and support female founders looking to secure investment. The new initiative is a part of Silicon Valley Comes to the UK.

The new initiative aims to specifically target the funding gap in the UK investment landscape that exists for female founders, in particular at Series A stage and beyond. It is a 12-month business support programme that will provide 15 female entrepreneurs with the skillset, network, and confidence to scale their businesses and secure investment.

According to a statement, female founders face particular barriers at the later stage of a VC funding. Data shows that in 2020, 77 per cent of VC funding rounds into London-based all-female teams were at Seed stage or earlier, while 19 per cent were Series A, and only two rounds were at Series B or later funding stage. Therefore, the new Beyond HERizons initiative is working towards building an inclusive and diverse network to balance gender inequalities in the investment ecosystem.

Female founders joining the 12-month programme have been selected following a competitive application process and are actively looking to secure Series A investment within the next year.

Sherry Coutu CBE, Founder & Chairman at SVC2UK, serial entrepreneur and angel investor, says, “We know that more diverse and inclusive businesses generate greater economic growth and benefit to society and women-led firms are shown to perform better over time. Yet female entrepreneurs continue to face significant barriers accessing funding. Beyond HERizons will work with the extensive network of tech investors who are dedicated to addressing this funding gap in the investment landscape to drive progress and contribute to undoing the current investment gender bias. I am thrilled to see so many innovative female founders joining the programme’s first cohort.”

What to expect from the programme?

The initiative will offer a balance of education, support and networking opportunities, ensuring founders receive tangible and sustainable support from experts including the SVC2UK Beyond HERizons partners; Mastercard, HSBC, Wilson Sonsini, Ada Ventures, Merian Ventures and FieldHouse Associates.

As part of the programme, the cohort will be introduced to relevant investors from across the UK and European ecosystems where they will pitch their ideas and products. The founders will also participate in a trade mission to Silicon Valley in early 2022 where they will meet and spend time with North American investors and build their international networks.

Brief about SVC2UK and London & Partners

Founded by Sherry Coutu CBE, Reid Hoffman, and Ellen Levy, Silicon Valley Comes to the UK (SVC2UK) is a not-for-profit programme run by London & Partners (London’s business growth and destination agency) together with volunteers, advisers and partners. Now, in its fourteenth year, SVC2UK brings together entrepreneurs and VCs from Silicon Valley with students, early-stage CEOs, serial entrepreneurs, and policymakers in the UK with an aim to inspire entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic prosperity.

The annual summit takes place in November each year with prominent serial entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley typically visiting London, Cambridge, and Oxford.

As for London & Partners, it is the business growth and destination agency for London. It aims to create economic growth that is resilient, sustainable, and inclusive. It is a not-for-profit company and operates as a social enterprise, half funded by the Greater London Authority (GLA) and half from other sources including its own portfolio of commercial ventures.

Entrepreneurs joining the Beyond HERizons initiative

The first cohort of Beyond HERizons will include entrepreneurs spanning from a range of tech sectors including digital health, circular economy, robotics, and edtech, among others.

Speaking on the development, Janet Coyle, Managing Director Business Growth at London & Partners, says, “We are excited to have some of the UK’s most inspirational female founders joining the first cohort of our Beyond HERizons programme today. London and the UK are home to thousands of innovative female founders, but they so often struggle to scale due to the current funding gap in the investment ecosystem. Beyond HERizons will bring together a community of diverse female founders to access impactful, practical support and investor networking opportunities and engage London’s extensive network of investors committed to increasing accessibility to funding in the UK.”

Meet the female founders involved in the Beyond HERizons programme:

Aequem limited (Leva Balciute, co-founder): Aequem is an e-commerce platform making sustainable shopping effortless, by bringing together over 70 sustainable labels for men and women, from all over the world.

Arthronica (Letizia Gionfrida, co-founder & CEO): A digital-health diagnostic platform for remote monitoring in arthritis through proprietary AI.

Bare Conductive Ltd (Bibi Nelson, COO & co-founder): Bare Conductive built a global community around conductive paint, hardware and software. LAIIER, applies the printed tech developed at Bare to smart buildings.

BYP Network (Kike Oniwinde, Founder & CEO): BYP Network connects Black professionals with each other, careers, events, mentors, and Black businesses.

Chicmi Ltd (Aowen Jin, co-founder & VP of Sales): Chicmi is the number one physical fashion event discovery, and Sample Sale site in the UK and the US with a fashion community of 1.5M users. It works with 6000 luxury and indie brands.

CityMaaS.io (Rene Perkins, Founder & CEO): CityMaaS.io helps organisations to grow through inclusion using its cutting-edge technology.

Fire Tech (Jill Hodges, Founder & CEO): Fire Tech is the UK’s leading provider of tech education for 8-17-year olds. Now fully online and looking to scale globally.

FroHub (Rahel Tesfai, Founder & CEO): FroHub is an Afro hair and beauty community and global marketplace. It empowers customers to discover and book professionals and buy products from independent sellers and brands.

Globechain (May Al-Karooni, CEO & Founder): A B2B reuse marketplace that connects enterprises to charities and people to redistribute unneeded items. It also generates ESG data on the impact.

Greyparrot (Mikela Druckman, co-founder & CEO): Greyparrot provides AI-powered computer vision software to increase transparency and automation in recycling.

iWarranty (Dr Ruby Pillai, co-founder & CEO): A platform for consumers to consolidate all their product warranties, make claims, and access repair networks affordably and quickly.

Ufurnish.com (Deirdre Mc Gettrick, Founder & CEO): ufurnish.com is an online furniture search and discovery website that brings 130+ retailers onto one website to make searching for the perfect furniture items simple for consumers.

MyPocketSkill (Zara Ransley, co-founder & co-CEO): MyPocketSkill helps to create a financially empowered Gen Z by connecting them with opportunities to earn, save and learn about money.

SPOKE (Ariana Alexander-Sefre, co-founder & CEO): SPOKE is a new app and movement (currently in private Beta) that personalises mindfulness and self-therapy through music by working with world-leading musicians.

ToucanTech (Katherine Jillings, co-founder): ToucanTech’s powerful CRM and website software is used by schools, charities and clubs in 20 countries to manage all their data and comms in one easy system.