The British Business Bank has pledged £1 million to back female founders, as recent data shows the number of women leading mid-market businesses falls to its lowest in nearly a decade.
The state-backed lender said the capital will be deployed through Angel Academe's Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) fund, which invests in high-growth businesses with at least one female founder.
The move comes amid longstanding concerns that women-led businesses continue to attract a disproportionately small share of venture capital (VC) in the UK.
Research from the British Business Bank has repeatedly shown the scale of the imbalance.
The VC and Female Founders reportfound that, in 2017, all-female founder teams received just 4% of UK VC deals, while over 80% of deals involved teams with no women at all.
Female founders still receive less than 2% of UK VC funding—a figure that has barely changed in a decade despite repeated industry diversity pledges.
Sarah Turner, CEO of Angel Academe, said in a statement toBusiness Mattersthat the issue is not a lack of talent but access to capital.
'We have a funding problem,' she said. 'By partnering with the British Business Bank, we're able to put more capital into the hands of women who are building the future of healthcare, data, and commerce.'
New datafrom Grant Thornton UK suggests that progress in gender equality is also being undermined by stagnating representation, with gains made in previous years beginning to reverse.
According to itsWomen in Business 2026report, the proportion of female CEOs in UK mid-market companies has fallen from 24% in 2025 to 17% in 2026, which is the lowest level recorded in eight years.
Source: International Business Times UK
