Department of Business & Trade VCU Female Founders Initiative
Aekta Patel, Head of Venture Capital Unit at the Department of Business & Trade (DBT) launched the department’s Female Founders Initiative on Tuesday 17 September 2024 at the HQ of DLA Piper. Alongside Paul Morris, Senior Adviser to the DBT Venture Capital Unit, and keynote speaker Debbie Wosskow OBE, co-chair of the Invest in Women Taskforce, guests heard from 9 women founders who comprise the first cohort of the initiative. The VCU will support these founders over the next twelve months with industry mentorship and international programmes with our investor network to support their fundraising.
In her opening address Aekta Patel referred to the reasons for a focus on investing in women:
‘For too long, innovative women-led start-ups have been held back due to a lack of finance, with the proportion of equity capital investment going to all-female founder teams stuck at around 2% in the UK for the past decade.
The 2019 Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship, commissioned by HM Treasury and supported by research from the British Business Bank, estimated that £250bn in new economic value could be realised if women in the UK started and scaled businesses at the same rate as men.
This Government recognises the opportunity to partner with the private sector to improve opportunities, outcomes, and investment for female entrepreneurs. DBT’s Venture Capital Unit launched a national competition to identify the UK’s ten most promising female tech founders, supported by an external panel of expert judges. The VCU will support these founders over the next twelve months with industry mentorship and international programmes with our investor network to support their fundraising.
The technology industry has been traditionally male dominated, but the founders in this cohort are a vivid demonstration of the solutions women are creating to address pressing societal challenges in the fields of life sciences, sustainability and financial access. Their contributions are crucial for the UK to maintain a competitive edge in the rapidly evolving global technology race.‘
Keynote speaker, Debbie Wosskow OBE reiterated the positive effects of investing in women, highlighting that it:
‘Boosts economic efficiency. Diverse teams often outperform homogeneous teams, offering better returns on investment. Startups led by women often achieve higher revenues relative to the amount of capital invested.
Drives innovation. Women bring unique perspectives and experiences that can lead to the
development of new products, addressing needs that may be overlooked by male-led firms.
Releases untapped economic value. An estimated £250bn in new economic value could be realised if women in the UK started and scaled businesses at the same rate of men.’
DBT VCU Female Founders Initiative Judges
The first cohort, selected by a panel of judges comprising:
Eileen Burbidge, founding partner at Passion Capital. She was made an MBE for services to UK Business, was previously Chair of Tech Nation, and has held various high profile tenures as technology and business advisor and ambassador for the government.
Rupa Popat who is an exited entrepreneur and the Founder & Managing Partner of Arāya Ventures. She is a UKBAA 2023 Angel Investor of the Year Finalist and founder of Araya Ventures Academy for Angels (AVA angels).
Kerry Baldwin, Managing Partner, Co-founder IQ Capital, who has 25+ years’ deeptech VC experience. Chair Mansion House Pension and Private Capital Expert Panel, Chair BVCA 2021/22, University of Plymouth Board, and Honorary Fellow in Entrepreneurship Cambridge University.
Addy Windsor-Clive, who manages Innovations at Regenerate Asset Management and will be launching an institutional impact AgTech VC fund. She is an active angel impact investor and startup mentor.
Natasha Lytton, Director at leading European Seed Fund Seedcamp with a portfolio of over 500 companies including Wise and Revolut. In 2021, Natasha was the first-ever VC to be added to Meta’s UK Advisory Council.
DBT VCU Female Founders Initiative Cohort
Nadia Sood, Founder of Credit Enable, a fintech company that has built a scalable ML-powered platform to streamline SME lending and borrowing and deliver digital credit remediation products.
Dr Amber Michelle Hill, Founder of Research Grid (R.grid), an automation engine for admin-free clinical trials.
Louise Birritteri is the CEO & Founder of Pikl, an Insurtech focused on the Vacation Rental & Sharing Economy markets.
Peony Li, founder of Jude, an innovative clinically proven bladder health plan, including a bladder control supplements and symptom tracker, which has already improved the lives of 70,000 customers in the UK.
Siddhi Mittal and Heinin Zhang co-founders of Yhangry, a consumer marketplace where customers can book a private chef at the same cost as going to a restaurant.
Dr. Mehak Mumtaz, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at iLoF, an AI-powered platform accelerates personalised drug discovery and development by building a massive digital library of biomarkers and biological profiles using advanced photonics.
Dr. Susan Graham, the Co-founder and CEO of DendraSystems, the #1 platform for environmental teams restoring ecosystems.
Melissa Snover, founder of Rem3dy Health that is personalising health solutions for both preventative and curative care through its brands, Nourished (Personalised Nutrition) and Scripted (Personalised Medicine).
Tessa Clarke is the Co-founder and CEO of Olio, the world’s largest food sharing app that aims to solve the climate crisis by addressing the enormous problem of food waste in homes & local communities.
Dr. May Rezai, Chief Operations Officer of MirZyme Therapeutics that offers a complete solution combining precision diagnostics and therapeutics to promote healthy living of mother and infant.
About the Department of Business & Trade Venture Capital Unit
The UK’s Department for Business and Trade (DBT) secures prosperity by promoting international investment and championing free trade. DBT’s Venture Capital Unit (VCU) matches qualified investors with opportunities across multiple sectors in the UK. We support the most exciting and innovative UK companies from start-ups to growth stage. We support them to scale, launch next-generation products and services, and expand their international presence, creating highly skilled jobs and growth in the UK.
For further information visit https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-business-and-trade
For further information about DBT Events visit:
https://eu.eventscloud.com/ehome/trade-events-calendar/home/
