Investment in female tech founders essential for economic growth

As the UK continues its nervous ascent from the depths of Covid-19, the nation’s technology sector provides a real beacon of hope for our future economic prospects. 

Despite the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, UK technology businesses are on course for a record year of investment in 2021. In September, it was reported that a flurry of major deals sent venture capital investment soaring to a record £13.5 billion in the first six months of the year. This figure is more than the total investment achieved in all of 2020. 

The sector is currently thriving and on course to experience further growth in the year ahead, but this news masks a wider issue about a lack of gender equality within UK technology. The sector continues to suffer from an underrepresentation of women, especially at senior levels, along a significant shortfall in the level of investment going into female-founded companies, presenting a real barrier to achieving its full economic potential.  

The number of females working in technology has increased over the past year, with 31% of UK tech jobs held by women, according to the Office of National Statistics. While the increase is welcome, other reports, including the Harvey Nash Tech Survey 2021, show females remain widely underrepresented in IT professional and leadership positions with women represented in just 10% of those roles in the UK. 

Meanwhile, female entrepreneurs, including many operating within the UK technology sector, are feeling the impact of another gender imbalance when it comes to attracting investment capital. Research from a number of organisations has shown that investment in female-founded companies has fallen since the pandemic, a reversal of a trend that had been going in the opposite direction for some years now. 

According to the international business data platform Crunchbase, more than 800 female-founded start-up businesses across the globe received a total of $4.9 billion in venture funding in 2020, a 27% decline from the same period last year. Crunchbase also reported that just 10 of the 120 new companies joining its Unicorn Board in 2020 had a female founder.

These statistics chime with other reports including one by US-based Pitchbook Data which also highlighted the effect of Covid on investment for companies which have been founded or co-founded by women. While investment into businesses with all-male teams fell by 16% in 2020 compared to the first three quarters of 2019, female-founded company investment, declined by 31% and represented less than a quarter of the money invested in US companies in 2020.

Time will tell if this trend will be reversed in the year ahead but these are worrying developments which threaten to turn back the clock and impede economic growth in a core sector such as technology.

It’s now time for the investment community, government and other industry stakeholders to work together to address the current imbalance, raise the level of female participation within UK technology and increase investment into female-founded tech companies. This is morally imperative but, more importantly, it’s also essential if we are to maximise the growth potential of this core UK sector. 

Achieving this ambition starts with a greater focus on promoting STEM subjects to school-aged girls to make them better aware of the substantial career opportunities that are available to them. 

Supporting programmes like our own AccelerateHER Awards, which celebrate and promote female-founders in tech-focused sectors, is also essential. Women leading these companies demonstrate the potential to thrive in technology and inspire others to pursue success in a sector that is key to our economic future.

With uncertainty over the future economic impact of the pandemic and other major challenges including Brexit hanging over us, it’s in everyone’s interest that we maximise the value of our technology sector. 

Encouraging more women to pursue opportunities within the sector and supporting them to develop their careers will help achieve this aim. Increasing the overall proportion of female-founded tech businesses over the long term and ensuring these companies are getting fair access to investment is the other vital piece of the jigsaw which will ultimately benefit everyone.