UK campaign launches to encourage the nation to back female founders

A major national initiative to get the UK investing in women-led companies has been launched.

Through the unique crowdfunding campaign BeAnAngel, individuals will be able to invest any amount in a selection of female-founded businesses and ‘be an angel’.

The campaign is the brainchild of serial entrepreneur Emma Sinclair, who wants to tackle the lack of investment in female-founded businesses, which she says is still a grossly under-served demographic when it comes to venture capital funding.

Emma has launched the campaign to coincide with International Women’s Day on 8 March.

The aim is to activate the UK population, particularly those who have never thought about investing before, into doing so.

Emma, who is the youngest person in the world to have floated a company on the London Stock Exchange aged 29, is the founder of global software company EnterpriseAlumni. Their software powers the corporate alumni networks of some of the world’s largest companies such as Marks & Spencer, PwC and LinkedIn.

She tells Jewish News: “The system for funding female entrepreneurs is broken, with glacial progress and no sign of repair. Female led companies receive two percent of venture capital – a statistic that has barely changed in more than a decade – and men are 50 times more likely to raise money than women. There’s a real problem.

“Women rely disproportionately on angel investors to fund their businesses. More angels equals more funding for female founders to fill this unfair gap. Angel investment is currently at a ten-year low, so funding is even harder to come by at the moment. I believe one way to see change is to activate thousands of ordinary people across the UK to become investors in female-led businesses. Perhaps those investing £50 or £500 today will invest larger sums in years to come. I want to help people start that journey right now. We need Great Britain to become a nation of angel investors to fund female founders, democratise access to high growth companies, contribute to the economy, create the pipeline of future FTSE companies … and level the playing field.”

Emma will kickstart the crowdfunder with her own business EnterpriseAlumni, offering a slice of her forthcoming fundraise to the public. A wave of female entrepreneurs will follow suit over the next 12 months or so. As part of the campaign, people will be posting with the hashtag #BeAnAngel and several corporates will be holding #BeAnAngel business breakfasts and events to raise awareness of the problem.

“I want to activate people into investing that hadn’t thought about it before,” notes Emma. “And to reach people that don’t necessarily work in business or technology showing them that they can be part of the solution. This needs to be done from the bottom up.

“I’m hoping this will be the beginning of something that has longevity, get people involved in angel investing and that the concept becomes embedded in our culture.”

The BeMyAngel crowdfunder launches officially on 8 March but is now open for registrations.

crowdcube.com/early-access/enterprisealumni