Over the past ten years, female angel investors have been involved in deals worth £2.34 billion, backing over 1000 female-founded businesses and helping to create more than 10,000 jobs, according to a recent study published by Beauhurst and the UK Business Angels Association.
But out of the 36,800 angel investors in the UK, only 14% of them are women.
Gender diversity is not the only challenge, just 1% of angel investors are black, and there is a general lack of diversity of thought and experience to appropriately represent the need for capital and innovation.
It’s important to recognise the importance of female angel investors and female-led businesses, when considering £250 billion could be added to the UK economy if women started and scaled businesses at the same rate as men.
So, why are there not as many women investing in startups?
A large proportion of angel investors tend to be individuals who have grown and sold their own business, therefore making the transition to investing in other businesses a natural progression. In the past there have simply been less female founders and whilst this number is now growing, it will take decades for the world of venture capital to really feel the effects. We cannot sit and wait for that day, something needs to be done to change these statistics.
South East Angels, Brighton's most active business angel investment network, has launched a new initiative to tackle the diversity problem in venture capital. Future Angels will host frequent events that are open to anyone intrigued about angel investment so they can come along and meet like-minded people, learn, and grow their network.
‘It’s incredibly important to encourage more people from underrepresented backgrounds into angel investing, and our Future Angels Initiative does just that’ - Kristina Pereckaite, Founder of South East Angels
Read more about the Future Angels initiative here: https://www.southeastangels.co.uk/future-angels