The report, The Investment Reset: Steps to Closing the Gender Funding Gap, was formed with research built in partnership with Sapio Research. It polled 200 entrepreneurs and 200 investors in the UK and revealed that female entrepreneurs are less likely to be successful in funding applications, receive lower amounts of funding even when they were successful and wait longer to receive funding than their male counterparts.

National Women’s Enterprise Week, an initiative in partnership with the British Library Business & IP Centre (BIPC) Network, aims to empower, support and celebrate female entrepreneurship through an accelerator programme for female entrepreneurs and supplementary nationwide events between 16th and 20th June 2025, courtesy of the BIPC. The report’s publication coincides with the opening of applications for NWEW’s free, three-day accelerator programme for UK female entrepreneurs, offering exclusive access to mentoring from investors and pitch coaches, resources and expert advice, before the opportunity to pitch to a panel of venture capitalists and angel investors.

Female entrepreneurs are disproportionately unsuccessful in receiving funding

The report found a 36% difference between male and female entrepreneurs who have applied or are currently applying for early-stage/seed business funding, and female founders are 31% less likely to be successful. Additionally, male founders received 44% more funding than female founders. As such, 60% of the total investors surveyed said their portfolio was made up of either all-male or majority-male founders.

The stark difference in the genders applying for funding is no surprise when other women's perceptions of female founders point to inequality. Women are much more likely to feel that female leaders are less confident in asking for investment (28% women vs 18% men) and that female leaders do not know where to look for support, financial aid and/or lack networks in the same way men do (24% women vs 13% men).

For the female entrepreneurs who have received funding, aside from the money itself, the report found they value advice from their investment partners much more than male founders (54% vs 27%). Connections and networking were also highly valued, a factor which was also popular with male founders.

The gender investment gap

The report found that women typically get funding from women, and men get funding from men. To illustrate this difference:

• 0% of female entrepreneurs, compared to 25% of male entrepreneurs, who received funding said their investors were all male
• 33% of female entrepreneurs, versus 2% of male entrepreneurs, who received funding said their investors were all female
• Female investors are up to twice as likely to invest in companies founded by women. Indeed, only 5% of all investors, all of them women, said their portfolios contained a majority of female-led businesses
• Conversely, 42% of male investors in our survey have a majority male-led portfolio (vs 29% of female investors), with none of these investors having a majority of female-led companies  

And, because the sector is so heavily male-dominated – just 17.7% of senior investment firm stakeholders are women–investors are seven times more likely to have a majority male-led portfolio than a majority female-led one. Entrepreneurs cite this imbalance as the leading reason female-led businesses are underinvested (47% of women felt this, vs 35% of men).

According to the report, many male investors are defensive about this imbalance, saying it just reflects the number and merit of those who approached them (45% of male vs 32% of female investors). However, male investors are more likely to base their investment decision-making on subjective judgements such as “gut feeling” and chemistry (19% of male vs 9% of female investors) rather than more impartial measures such as current growth (40% of male vs 47% of female investors) making it even harder for female entrepreneurs to be successful, given they’re often working against relatability constraints.

What can be done to correct gender inequality in investment?

The investors NWEW surveyed highlighted a number of solutions to solve the inequalities in startup funding, including increasing the number of women in the investment industry (81% of female investors vs 76% of male investors believe this will be beneficial) and having an industry code of practice to improve fairness in business investment (77% of female investors vs 66% of male investors are supportive of this). However, despite these solutions, nearly a third (31%) of all investors see measures to create more equality in their portfolio as an ‘unnecessary restraint’.

Many male investors also believe the deficit of equal investment is the fault of entrepreneurs, with 34% believing more training was needed for female founders to pitch; a higher percentage than those that felt training was needed for investors to combat unconscious biases (21%).

But those investors slow to focus on equality of opportunity would be wise to take heed – the majority (56%) of those who have say it has improved their profitability.

Alison Cork MBE, Founder of National Women’s Enterprise Week, said: “This report should serve as a catalyst for action. Fully female-founded companies receive just 2p of every £1 of equity investment and they have to fight to just get in the door. The fact is, with fewer female investors, women-led businesses are more likely to be left behind. This is despite female-founded businesses being quicker to turn a profit, which NWEW unearthed in 2022. It is vital that investors of all genders back female-founded businesses, and set equality targets to ensure a broad portfolio.

“The report findings show not only do female entrepreneurs lack the financial opportunities men do, but they also significantly value advice and guidance but often don’t know where to find it. This is why National Women’s Enterprise Week is so important, and I encourage women to apply for the accelerator programme to showcase their business, and gain support and mentorship from our community.”

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