Despite some progress, female-led businesses in the UK are still suffering from big funding gaps, limited networking opportunities, and continued bias, all of which is considerably stunting their chance to grow. 

That’s according to the new Female Founders report from wealth management firm Charles Stanley and data platform Beauhurst, which found that more than 60% of women feel that, even in 2024, they are forced to prove their worth as leaders by working harder than male counterparts.

That disparity stretches to all areas of business, and can be especially troubling for female-led startups. The study found that less than 2% of equity funding currently goes to female founded companies in the UK, with a quarter of women (25%) believing that it would be much easier to secure funding for their venture as a man.

The figures back up those beliefs, with the first three-quarters of 2024 seeing female-led firms raise a collective £1.48 billion across 972 deals, which although a significant sum is overshadowed by the £9.28 billion in capital – over six times as much – which flowed to businesses that didn’t count any women among their founders.

In September, news from the UK Government sponsored Investing in Women Code initiative, designed to improve female-founded businesses’ access to resources and finance, illustrated the scale of the ongoing problem.

According to a report, published by the Department for Business and Trade, the share of deals going to firms with women founders was just 4% more among Code signatories than the market average, and had actually fallen from the year before.

Unsurprisingly, that kind of neglect can have serious knock-on effects for growth. Charles Stanley’s study found that as of October 2024, just 13.7% of the entire UK population of high-growth businesses had at least one female founder, despite the number of businesses led by women more than doubling over the past decade.

The technology sector has seen more activity for female founded firms than most in recent years, with the application software industry seeing the largest number of high-growth, women-led businesses by far (2,407), while companies focused on software-as-a-service (855), data provision (691), and even artificial intelligence (533) have all seen considerable growth.

However, despite this success, women still only make up around a quarter of tech roles, and just 5% of leadership positions within the industry, with a report from McKinsey finding that only 81 women are promoted to manager for every 100 men, falling from 87 the year before.

There are some brighter spots, though, with research showing that female-led fintechs outperformed their male-led counterparts last year, achieving 30% more turnover growth – but these firms still make up less than a fifth of the total number of fintechs across the UK.

For Scotland, driving forward this kind of potential is now seen as key to growing the economy. The Scottish Government invested a record £2.6 million in 2024-25 to widen female participation in entrepreneurship, set to increase to at least £4 million in 2025-26, while also backing initiatives like Ana Stewart’s Pathways Forward, aiming to help remove barriers facing women in enterprise.

Recommended reading

• Female Representation in Tech Increases by 1% in Four Years
• BCS: Half A Million Women Missing From IT Sector
• Nearly a Quarter of Women in Tech Experience Sexism at Work

“In an era where innovation and entrepreneurship are more vital than ever, the voices of female founders are emerging as powerful catalysts for change,” said Katrina Gane, business development manager at Charles Stanley.

“This is not simply about addressing inequalities but about recognising the value that diverse perspectives bring to innovation and problem-solving. 

“By understanding these experiences and the broader patterns they reveal, stakeholders can better support an environment where all entrepreneurs have the potential to thrive. Investors, policymakers, mentors, and industry leaders have a role to play in fostering a more equitable landscape.”