Innovate UK, the government subsidiary that supports the science and technology sector, has reversed a funding decision amid push back and controversy.

Previously, the organisation had set aside £4 million for its Women in Innovation awards, which was set to go to 50 women founders.

However, last week the group only awarded half the original number, with only 25 of the over 1,400 applications securing funding from Innovate UK.

This sparked outrage across the industry, particularly among women founders who had applied and received ultimately positive feedback.

In a post on LinkedIn, Innovate UK said: “As public funders, we must manage our budgets carefully. The decision to only award this number was a mistake and we prioritised wrongly. 

“We recognise the impact this has had on the many applicants and on the community as a whole, and we apologise wholeheartedly.”

The decision to reverse the controversial underfunding was led by pressure from a group of women founders, spearheaded by Becky Lodge, the CEO of Startup Disruptors.

“Women-led businesses are significantly underfunded in comparison to their male counterparts and we rely on a public body to exercise fairness and equity when it comes to distributing public money,” Lodge said in the original release protesting Innovate UK’s initial decision.

Following the reversal from Innovate UK, Lodge did continue to question the organisation: “There’s still a question about how the money ‘magically’ reappeared again only after our PR campaigns across all women’s feeds on LinkedIn; so if we hadn’t highlighted it then 25 women would have been left with no funding this year.

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“We should never have had to do this in the first place,” she said.

It is also yet to be seen if the grassroots movement, Let’s Fund More Women, which was galvanised by the funding mishap will have their full list of grievances addressed.

They are asking for a more transparent system for the upcoming year’s grant award scheme to prevent any other discrepancies from arising.

They are also asking for a direct apology for the inconsistent feedback the more than 1,400 applications received for their work.