Burness Paull LLP’s Post

👏🏻 Another brilliant initiative from Emmie Faust and Female Founders Rise is Findafemalefounder.com which is an online directory of service based female founders. It's great way to find female founders of service based businesses from marketing, to accounting to wellbeing. 😀 And I'm part of the new cohort of female founders to be added to the site (link to my profile in comments)! ⚡️ 🙏🏻 It's an honour to be listed alongside so many inspiring female entrepreneurs who are making waves in their industries. This platform is doing incredible work in highlighting female leaders of service based businesses who are driving change, innovating, and leading with passion. 💡Did you know that if women were to start and scale businesses at the same rate as men we could add £250billion to the UK economy (gov.uk Feb 2024) That's why Female Founders Rise and anyone hiring and supporting female led businesses are contributing to economic growth in the future. 🧐 Perhaps our politicians should think about how they support women and non-binary founders to set up businesses in their manifesto pledges! 🤝 Let's continue to support and uplift each other as we forge new paths in the world of entrepreneurship! #FemaleFoundersRise #WomenInBusiness #FindAFemaleFounder 📸 New photo courtesy of Amanda Clarke 🙏🏻

🤷♀️An apparent lack of female founders is often cited by VCs as a reason why they fail to back female founders. At 3 Sisters Ventures ("3SV"), we recently submitted our 2023 data to the Investing in Women Code and one stat stood out that suggests this isn’t the case: ➡️ 3.5x - that’s how many more pitch decks we received from all-female founding teams versus all-male teams. Meanwhile, two-thirds of the companies we backed are led by all-female founder teams. And to clarify 3SV is NOT a female founder fund. We back founders of all genders that are building tech-enabled solutions addressing the underserved needs of women (i.e. half the world's population). 🖋️ The Investing in Women Code is also helping to disprove the theory. Launched by the British Business Bank, the Code helps to promote female entrepreneurship and we’re proud to be one of the 200+ signatories. You can find out more about the code here: https://lnkd.in/d8TYYMmS #investinginwomen #vc #femalefounders

Female Founders Growth Summit in full flow this morning in Edinburgh. The UK’s biggest event to date for female founders and entrepreneurs. With just 2p in every £1 of finding going to female founders, the access and equity gap is astounding. Programmes, accelerators, female only funding pools, and female founder enterprises have been sprung up as means to address the challenge. But is that addressing the crux of the issue? Feedback shared today that has been given in 2024 to UK female founders applying for funding has included: ‘She’d have come across better in her pitch by bypassing the makeup counter and smiling more’ ‘I don’t think someone who has been a nurse can be a commercial entrepreneur’ ‘You’re young and attractive, what happens when you decide to have kids’ What are the social and economic changes you feel might be most impactful in redresssing the inequity of both inspiring women to take the leap into the entrepreneurial space and solving the issue on equitable funding access? Female Founders Rise Pathways Forward #femalefoundersgrowthsummit

A few weeks ago, our co-chair Debbie Wosskow, OBE was featured in SheerLuxe’s Business Edition. This interview is a must-read for anyone interested in investing, entrepreneurship, and building wealth. Here are some key takeaways: → The percentage of capital going to female entrepreneurs in 2021 went down to 1%. → Female-powered businesses deliver 35% better returns than male-led ones, representing a massive untapped economic opportunity. → Many women are unaware of the tax breaks available through schemes like the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS). → We're creating a funding pot powered by institutional capital. → Funds need incentives to hire and employ senior women. → We’re aiming to get more women supporting women through angel investments. Read the whole interview here: https://lnkd.in/e_sun6Wb

Did you know that having women on the investing team significantly increases the chances of funding for female entrepreneurs? Research from FastCompany reveals that a female entrepreneur is 70% more likely to be funded when a woman is on the investing team. Plus, VC firms with at least 10% female investing partners see better fund returns and more profitable exits. Let's discuss the importance of diversity in angel investing—share your thoughts! #AngelInvesting #DiversityInInvesting #FemaleFounders #VentureCapital #FastCompany Kay Koplovitz Marcia Dawood Sue Bevan Baggott Dannielle Stewart

Discover the Invest in Women Hub👇 The Council for Investing in Female Entrepreneurs has created The Hub to equip #FemaleFounders with the tools and frameworks needed for starting, growing and scaling your business. UKI2S are active supporters of female founders through the Investing in Women Code. On The Hub you'll find finance contacts, including business incubators, mentors, accelerators and networks. Take a look 👀 https://lnkd.in/eaTcfFmQ #InvestInWomenHub Future Planet Capital #VentureCapital #Investment

Did you know that only 3.11% of angel investors in the North West of England are female? We recognise the critical importance of increased female participation in the investment space. With the support of GM Business Growth Hub, we are launching an angel education programme which is taking place in Manchester with the aim of reaching a broader audience and creating a more inclusive and representative investment ecosystem. This programme is ideal for women leaders and professionals who are looking to increase their investment knowledge, give back to women founders from their region and join a growing movement of women backing women. The programme is a 16-hour free-to-attend programme which focuses on the angel investment process, from understanding what angel investment is through to completing due diligence on an opportunity and understanding tax-efficient investment incentives. Join us on the programme and watch us grow the number of women angel investors across the UK - https://lnkd.in/eDtx2par Please repost amongst your networks. Jordan Dargue Helen Oldham Jem Henderson Denise Elena Androne Jessica Jackson, Suzanne Donovan, Morag Denette, Delyth Lloyd Edwards, Vicky Mears, Sophie Dale-Black PhD, Debbie Dougherty, Heather Waters, Ian S Dixon, Katherine Megson, Sarah Wilkinson. Janine Smith. Lorna Green Claire Lewis Tara Attfield-Tomes Hephzi Pemberton #FemaleFounders #AngelInvestors #LiftedVentures #WomenInBusiness #InvestingInWomen #Empowerment #Birmingham #Manchester

💸 Did you know that less than 2% of Venture Capital funding goes to female-founded businesses? Why is this the case given that we are now in 2024? Since applying for an Innovate UK Women In Innovation Grant this summer, I’ve been on a journey to better understand this issue, talking with inspiring leaders like Thrivall | B Corp Pending Advisory Board Member Kate Freeman and following voices like Bridget Greenwood and Ingrid Murray from Becky Lodge’s powerful Let's Fund More Women community. 🥐 🗞 Yesterday morning, I had the privilege of attending the City AM Ambition AM breakfast at Huckletree, where Jennifer Sieg hosted a conversation with Debbie Wosskow, OBE (Chair of the Invest in Women Taskforce), and Avion Gray, Founder of Belong – who just raised a record-breaking €3.4M - the largest pre-seed round ever raised by female founders in Europe 🙌 I learned so much about what is contributing to the current situation and how we can create a solution: ♀ Only 11% of investors are female. 🇪🇺 The European Investment Fund (EIF) Gender Equality Policy is helping to bridge the funding gap in Europe. 🇺🇸 Just 10% of UK VCs come from an operator background, compared to 60% in the US. The current VC model fosters ‘snap decision-making,’ where biases come into play, so investors often look for: 📥 Patterns (Does this founder fit the ‘standard’ mould?) 📊 Track Record (Does this founder have prior success?) 🤝 Relatability (Does this founder’s story feel familiar?) ⏰ It’s time we challenge these biases and create more spaces for diverse founders to thrive. Let’s keep the conversation going and champion a new model for inclusive investment! 💪 #InvestInWomen #VC #FemaleFounders #Innovation

Great news for UK female founders! 👩💼🎉 A new report shows 32% of venture capital deals by Investing in Women Code members went to female-founded companies, beating the market average of 28% for the fourth year in a row! This is a sign that initiatives supporting female entrepreneurs are making a difference. But there's still work to be done. Angel investments in all-female teams are 50% lower than those in mixed or all-male teams. Angel groups with over 15% of women investors are making 57% of their investments in teams with female founders. Since 2019, over 250 organisations, including British Business Bank and UK Finance, have backed female founders through the Investing in Women Code. This is a step in the right direction🤞 Thoughts? Let's chat! #WomenInBusiness #FemaleFounders #InvestingInWomenCode

Recent data from NWBC highlights the incredible strides women are making in entrepreneurship: • Women-owned businesses now represent 39.1% of all U.S. businesses. • From 2019 to 2023, this grew by an impressive 13.6%. These numbers show how women are driving innovation, creating impact, and fueling economic growth. But it’s about more than just statistics. Women entrepreneurs are: • Building powerful networks. • Fostering collaboration across industries. • Showing unmatched resilience in challenging times. Supporting women in business means providing better access to funding, creating mentorship opportunities, and implementing policies that foster equity. Empowering women entrepreneurs means real change: • Access to funding unlocks innovation and growth. • Mentorship accelerates success and confidence. • Inclusive policies ensure equity and opportunity. This isn’t just about fairness, it’s about building stronger businesses and communities. Are we ready to make it happen? Let’s invest in women and drive real impact.