Funding for women-founded startups in the UK last year was greater than in any other European nation, but gender investment disparity remains a major issue, according to new data.
Tech firms with at least one woman founder in the UK secured €3.9bn (£3.3bn) in venture capital deals in 2023, more than double that of France, which secured second place with €1.7bn.
Germany was third with €1.2bn and the Netherlands was fourth with €0.5bn.
The UK also led Europe significantly in the number of funding deals for female-founded startups, with 726, according to a new report from Pitchbook.
Britain’s women in tech may have led Europe in VC funding, but the data shows across all of the continent, woman-founded startups are not given the same funding opportunities as male-founded companies.
In the UK, the percentage of female-founded startups receiving VC investment over the past five years has been stagnant at between 1% and 2%. Separate data from the British Business Bank found that for every £1 of investment, less than 1p goes to fully female-founded businesses.
Last week, the government-formed independent women-led high-growth enterprise taskforce, chaired by Starling Bank founder Anne Boden, published a report recommending action to address gender funding imbalance.
The report recommended investment firms set targets for increasing the representation of women in high positions and regularly publish data on those targets.
Read more: VC funds must be proactive to boost capital for underserved female founders
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