Dispensing with the need for warm introductions and breaking down the barriers to investment, each founder will have the opportunity to meet four investors during one hour of remote office hours to discuss their tech business idea, ask for advice, pitch for investment or find a mentor. 

The event is being held by Playfair Capital as part of their long-term commitment to address the gender imbalance in venture funding and will continue the use of AI matching technology. This technology improves the relevance of founder to investor matching, and increases the likelihood of relevant conversations and, ultimately, funding being secured. 

The previous eight editions saw a total of 6,700 individual mentoring sessions with over 1,673 founders and 185 investors taking part. To date, 25% of founders have gone on to raise funding after attending an event, with recent success stories including Spottitt, Muse Finance, Daye, Whoppah, Shopper and Maxwellia. This amounts to £600m in total funding that has been disclosed. 

Jeevan Sunner, Playfair Capital’s Principal, commented: “During times of economic instability, it becomes more important than ever to support underrepresented founders in getting access to investors and opportunities to secure capital. On today, International Women’s Day, we're excited to continue this initiative into its fourth year and ninth edition, and to reaffirm our commitment to doing our bit to redress the gender imbalance in venture.”

Chris Smith, Playfair Capital’s Managing Partner, added: “Three and a half years since the first edition of Female Founder Office Hours and I’m delighted to see that momentum continues to grow. The latest funding data shows that £600m has been raised by founders who have attended one of the events, and we are well on the way to smashing the billion pound mark and beyond. I’m enormously grateful to everybody who has supported, and continues to support, this initiative.”