Funding for Female Founders in the UK (2026)
The current data on investment in women-led companies, and the UK programmes, funds and grants for female founders that I could verify.
What the data says
The gap is well documented. In July 2025 the British Business Bank stated that just 2p of every £1 of venture capital invested in the UK goes to female-founded businesses, and that only 13% of senior people on UK venture capital investment teams are women.
The sixth Investing in Women Code report, published on 8 July 2026 and covering 2025, shows where things are better. Among venture capital firms signed up to the Code, 33% of deals went to teams with at least one female founder, against 25% across the market. All-female founder teams received 6% of signatories' investment value, three times the wider market share of 2%.
I'm a male founder, so I have kept this guide to programmes and figures I could verify, and every number comes from the sources listed at the end. This is general information, not financial advice.
Use the Investing in Women Code as a filter
The Investing in Women Code uses agreed guidelines and metrics to analyse funding for female entrepreneurs, and its annual report publishes what signatories did. The British Business Bank reports the results each year.
The 2026 report found that 32% of all venture capital investment from Code signatories went to teams with at least one female founder, up from 27% in 2024. Signatory status is a practical filter when you build an investor list, because these firms have chosen to measure and publish.
The make-up of the investment committee matters as well. The report found that 11% of deals by signatories with majority-female investment committees went to all-female founder teams, compared with 8% for majority-male committees. I'd look at who makes the decisions at each fund, as well as who takes the first meeting.
The Invest in Women Taskforce
The government described the Invest in Women Taskforce in September 2024 as the successor to the Rose Review, with the aim of creating a funding pool of more than £250 million for female-founded businesses through private capital. It is co-chaired by Debbie Wosskow and Hannah Bernard.
By April 2026 the Taskforce reported £635 million in commitments across its initiatives. Its Women Backing Women fund of funds reached a first close of £130 million on 31 March 2026, towards a £250 million target, with Barclays, the British Business Bank, M&G and Nationwide as investors.
The fund of funds invests in venture funds with female and mixed-gender investment teams. In June 2026 it announced its first commitments, to Evertrue Capital, which invests at pre-seed and seed, and to two Seedcamp funds. Founders reach this money by pitching the funds it backs, so add those managers to your list if your stage fits.
British Business Bank commitments
In July 2025 the British Business Bank announced a £500 million package for diverse and emerging fund managers. It included £400 million for an Investor Pathways Capital initiative, with at least half of that investment directed to female fund managers, and a further £50 million for female-led funds, taking that commitment to £100 million.
The Bank's 2026 equity tracker reports that 30% of the deals its equity programmes supported involved at least one female founder, a higher share than the wider market.
These programmes work through fund managers and angel groups. For a founder the practical step is to find out which investors on your list are backed by the Bank and which have signed the Code.
Grant funding: Women in Innovation
Innovate UK's Women in Innovation Awards are a grant competition for women founders. The 2025/26 round offered up to 60 awards, each with a grant of up to £75,000 and a 12-month package of business support, training, networking and role-modelling opportunities.
To apply you had to be a woman founder or co-founder of a UK registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise and resident in the UK. Applicants committed to at least ten hours of training and development and four hours of role-modelling activity. That round opened on 26 November 2025 and closed on 4 February 2026.
Check Innovate UK's competition pages for the next round. General Innovate UK competitions are open to you as well, and our Innovate UK guide explains how the funding rules work.
Angels and networks
Angel rounds are built from groups, and some groups focus on women. The British Business Bank's Regional Angels Programme lists its partners publicly. They include Angel Academe, which describes itself as a mainly female angel network investing in female-founded startups, and HERmesa, which describes a growing portfolio of women-led startups. Read each group's own criteria before applying.
The UK Business Angels Association's member directory is the wider starting point. Our guide to angel networks and syndicates explains how the process runs and the rules on who you can pitch.
SEIS and EIS apply in the usual way. Apply for advance assurance before you pitch, because most UK angels will ask about it.
Building your list
I'd combine three filters. First, fit: stage, sector, cheque size and a relevant deal in the last 12 months. Second, evidence: Code signatories, funds backed by the Taskforce or the British Business Bank, and funds with women on the investment committee. Third, track record: funds that have backed female-founded companies before, which you can check from their portfolio pages.
Fit comes first. A fund that backs women and invests at Series B will still say no to a pre-seed round. Use the second and third filters to rank the investors that already match on the basics.
Take references from founders in each portfolio, as you would for any investor. Ask how the fund behaved in a hard quarter and whether it helped with the next round.
Check programmes before you commit time
New programmes for female founders are announced often. Before you spend a week on an application, check who funds the programme, how many companies it backed last year, what it costs you in fees or equity, and whether past participants would do it again.
Prefer programmes that publish results. The Code report and the Taskforce's announcements give numbers that can be checked, and that is the standard I'd hold others to.
Dates and amounts change each year. I checked the figures in this guide in October 2026 against the sources below, and I'd confirm the current position on each programme's own site before you apply.
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- British Business Bank: £500m package for diverse and emerging fund managers
- British Business Bank: Investing in Women Code signatories continue to close the finance gap
- GOV.UK: Investing in Women Code
- GOV.UK: Chancellor, everyone can do something for women's equality
- Invest in Women Taskforce: Women Backing Women fund of funds reaches first close
- Invest in Women Taskforce: First capital deployed from the Women Backing Women fund of funds
- British Business Bank: Small Business Equity Tracker 2026
- Innovate UK Business Connect: Women in Innovation Awards 2025/26
- British Business Bank: Regional Angels Programme partners
- Angel Academe
- HERmesa
- UK Business Angels Association