Girls Just Wanna Have Funding

Our new report today reveals the deep and persistent gender funding gap in the UK’s startup ecosystem. Despite women making up nearly 14% of founding teams, all-female teams receive just 6–7% of equity deals—and only 2.4% of raises worth £10 million or more.

The report, Girls Just Wanna Have Funding: Addressing the Barriers to Finance for Female Founders, is the second in our Funding the Underfunded campaign. It calls for concrete Government action to address structural funding disparities, including strengthening the Investing in Women Code, issuing investor conduct guidance, and reforming rules around angel investing and grants.

Startup Coalition’s Girls Just Wanna Have Funding calls for:

Clear guidance from regulators and development banks to prevent discriminatory investor practices

Making the Investing in Women Code mandatory for public funding recipients

Better access to grant funding and angel investing for female founders

Childcare reforms that support women in entrepreneurship

Despite women-led teams showing strong representation in the startup population, they are significantly underrepresented among those securing growth capital. Failing to address this funding gap undermines our ambitions for a world-leading innovation economy.

Diverse founders are more likely to build businesses that solve real-world problems, create inclusive workforces, and expand opportunity across regions and demographics. If the UK is serious about inclusive growth, it must ensure its capital markets are working for everyone.