The beauty industry is a melting pot of female entrepreneurs and business owners however its potential is untapped due to lack of investment in women.
The Government-backed Invest in Women Taskforce is committed to closing the gender gap when it comes to capital. Its new annual report ‘The Missing Slice’ spotlights the vital work of the organisation to date and spotlights the much needed work needed to uncover female business potential.
One year on from announcing a historic funding pool dedicated to supporting UK female founders and investors, the Taskforce has announced that it has now raised commitments of over half a billion in catalytic capital to help transform the current investment landscape.
However, data in the new annual report shows there is still a huge disparity between male and female funding opportunities. For example male businesses continue to raise the largest rounds, with mixed teams close behind, and women-only businesses behind this.
Disconcertingly, average deal size for women-led businesses has reduced over the last year from £0.7m to £0.5m.
The report calls on industry to push beyond the taskforce’s funding pool to offer women positions as both investors and those receiving capital, knowing that equity on both sides will drive change.
As for the fund itself, deployment of capital has begun across a range of programmes and investment vehicles, supporting women-led businesses from seed to growth stages, and across diverse sectors from technology and health to green innovation and creative industries.
The Taskforce’s investment partners BGF, Aviva and Morgan Stanley are deploying £365m directly into female and mixed businesses (of which, BGF has committed £300m), helping to scale those that have historically been underfunded.
You can read the full report here.
