Women-led businesses are 'driving force' of UK economy

 

In a global first, new research shows UK companies led by women grow, perform and rank

 

7 March, 2016. London, UK. Sherry Coutu, Martha Lane Fox, Joanna Shields, Anya Hindmarch, Neelie Kroes and Reid Hoffman and are amongst the world-leading entrepreneurs and business leaders welcoming ground-breaking new service to celebrate International Women’s Day.

 

In a global first, new analysis - based on open-government and LinkedIn data-sets - reveals how companies led by women grow, perform and rank - identifying the fastest-growing and most dynamic women-led businesses across the UK.  

 

This is the first time local interactive cluster maps all across the country have been created showing the location of growing business led by women with £1 Million to  £250 Million in revenue.

 

No other country has ever produced such detailed insight, a clear indicator that the UK is the best place in the world for ambitious women to scale-up their global business operations.  

 

Such in-depth analysis will also give the UK the competitive edge over other nations as it allows home grown companies to improve their visibility and appeal - and subsequently secure the talent, support and finance they need to flourish.

 

See infographic here

 

The new research, compiled by Founders4Schools, the ed-tech charity that brings business leaders into schools to unlock the employability of young people, is supported by Doteveryone, the national organisation founded by Martha Lane Fox to rebuild Britain for the Networked Age and by Silicon Valley comes to the UK, a programme run out of London & Partners to support scale ups.  

 

762 women-led companies with revenues between £ 1M - £250 Million are expanding at a Median Growth Rate of 30% per cent a year. 453 (59.4%) are growing by 20% or more and 281 (37%) are growing by 50% or more.

 

The total revenues they together accounted for increased by nearly £ 2 billion from the last year.  This was a median annual revenue increase per woman-led company of £ 900,000

 

The average revenue of women-led businesses was £ 12 Million pounds and on average, this was £ 2.3 Million more than the previous year.

 

11% of businesses are women-led and the proportion of women led-businesses increases as the size of the businesses increases and as the growth rate of the businesses increases, compared to businesses overall.

 

The Tech Sector accounts for 517 of the 762 (67 %)  women-led businesses with 300 (58%)  of the businesses 20% per annum and 188 (35%) of the businesses growing 50% or more per annum.

After Greater London with 273 women led businesses (led by Camden with 44), Leeds is a stand out city with 43 women-led companies, followed by Enterprise M3 and the South East, home to 29 women-led companies each.   

 

Fast-growing women-led companies present in all regions of the UK, with 68 per cent headquartered outside London.  Scottish women-led companies are growing revenues at a median annual rate of 30 per cent

 

Sherry Coutu CBE, Chair of Founders4Schools & Author of the Scale-up Report said: “We are delighted to celebrate these women who are making a major contribution to UK economic growth.  I hope by literally, putting them on the map they will find it easier to find the talent to hire to fill all those orders their customers are placing with them. I am hopeful that this will help them to attract the talent they need to fulfill the huge pipeline of customer orders they need, I am hopeful that this may also help them with their international expansion plans and perhaps even financing.

 

I set up Founders4Schools to inspire young people to consider starting their own businesses.  I love the examples set by women like Anya Hindmarch, Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne at Genius Foods, Julie Deane from Cambridge Satchel Company and Kathryn Parsons from Decoded. The fact that we now have 762 examples available to inspire the next generation of girls about the impact they can also have on the world is very exciting.

 

Commenting on the data findings, Martha Lane Fox, Founder of Doteveryone said: “Whilst the data shows the tech sector accounts for (67 %) women-led businesses in the UK, there is so much more to be done. Women currently occupy just 17% of tech jobs and make up only 3% of partners in venture capital firms. Fewer than 1 in 10 of these women are in leadership positions within the sector and, perhaps most shockingly, women only hold 4% of software engineers”.

 

“On a global scale, its cited that women entrepreneurs are poised to lead the next wave of growth in tech, and the high-tech companies women build are more capital-efficient than the norm. If the UK is to leapfrog every other nation on this planet to become the most digital, most connected, most skilled and most informed on the planet - we urgently need to address the gender imbalance within the tech sector and ensure that our leaders, investors and entrepreneurs come from the widest pool of home-grown talent. This amazing new open data from Founders4schools will support those brilliant women who are helping drive the UK economy and will enable us to foster the maximum breadth and depth of digital talent that the UK has to offer”.

 

Internet Safety and Security Minister Baroness Shields said: "I am delighted that we now have the ability to identify and track the growth of female led businesses as a result of the UK government’s open data policy. This report confirms that women-led business leadership contributes immensely to growth and innovation right across the UK and I commend these women and their organisations for making a significant impact on our economy.”

 

Also supporting the availability of this new data was Jacqueline de Rojas, President, techUK, who said “I am encouraged to see women in leadership positions all across the UK. If we are to ensure economic growth, Women, no matter where they live, must have the opportunity to take on senior roles. Job creation is not and must not be limited to London. We need to drive productivity right across the UK.”

 

Xavier Rolet, CEO, London Stock Exchange Group commented: “We have been long and vocal advocates of building a diverse economy; one constructed on a foundation of vibrant SMEs led by, and employing, as diverse a cross-section of the public as possible. That’s why we are so keen to support important initiatives and research such as this which demonstrate the huge benefits that dynamic, women-led organisations are bringing to the UK economy. As a community, we must continue to do more to encourage the spirit of entrepreneurism in young people across the country, to help create the next generation of British founders and business leaders.”

 

 

 

 

Stuart Nicol joins Maven investment team

 

Maven Capital Partners (Maven) has today announced that it has appointed Stuart Nicol as Investment Director. He joins Maven’s Southern investment team and will be based out of the London office.

 

Stuart is a highly regarded growth investor, with over 15 years’ investment experience; having worked for YFM Equity Partners, Octopus Investments, Reboot Ventures and Crowdcube. He has a track record of successful investment in more than 40 UK firms across a range of sectors, and will focus on sourcing and executing new VCT transactions on Maven’s behalf across the South of England.

 

Over the past three years Maven has raised around £50m in new VCT fundraisings, for investment in growth company transactions, and is an active investor throughout the UK regions.

 

Prior to his investment career, Stuart served for six years as an infantry officer in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He has a BSc in Economics with Accounting from Loughborough University and a Masters in Finance from London Business School. He is an active trustee of the military charitywww.heropreneurs.co.uk.

 

Stuart Nicol, Investment Director at Maven, said: “I really enjoy providing well-suited funding to growing businesses. It’s a pleasure to join my friends at Maven and I look forward to investing the funds they’ve raised to allow more UK firms to flourish”.

 

Bill Nixon, Managing Partner of Maven Capital Partners said: “We are continually looking to develop our VCT investment capability, and are delighted to announce the appointment of Stuart to our investment team. Maven has one of the best resourced VCT teams in the industry and is committed to enhancing its business across the South. Stuart brings the quality and wealth of experience necessary to complement our existing team. We are very familiar with his work and strong reputation in this field and welcome him to Maven, where we are confident that he will further enhance our VCT business.”

 

 

 

Three Dragons’ Den stars battle it out on Crowdcube

 

Deborah Meaden-backed GripIt raises £2m as Sarah Willingham and Piers Linney support businesses looking for funding from the crowd

 

Three of the stars of BBC Two’s Dragons’ Den are batting it out for funding on Crowdcube, the UK’s top equity crowdfunding platform, with two of them already behind businesses looking for investment on the site, and one spotting an opportunity to invest directly via the Crowdcube platform. Ahead of the pack is programme favourite, Deborah Meaden who backed GripIt Fixings, a plasterboard fixing product, after founder Jordan Daykin became the youngest recipient of investment on Dragons’ Den when he appeared on the show in 2014. This weekend, the company successfully funded after going live last Monday to the tune of £2m, exceeding its original target of £1.5m and attracting 639 investors.

 

Entrepreneur, investor and personal finance expert, Sarah Willingham is behind the London Cocktail Club, which has five venues around London, and also counts Michelin-starred chef Raymond Blanc among its investors. While Piers Linney, who appeared on the award-winning TV show between 2013 and 2015 and is CEO of IT business Outsourcery, has invested in Dirt Factory, the UK’s first indoor bike park, via Crowdcube.

 

Crowdcube co-founder Luke Lang, says: “We’re seeing something of a ‘Dragon-off’ on the Crowdcube site at the moment, with three Dragons backing businesses looking for funding, which is quite exciting. This is a first for us, although we’re used to seeing big-name investors, entrepreneurs and even celebrities getting behind exciting new ideas and talent looking to raise money from the crowd.”

 

GripIt, whose young founder invented the product at the age of just 13, launched in 2012 and is now stocked in over 3,000 stores across the UK with plans to expand into the US and Australia. 

 

The founders of the London Cocktail Club won BBC’s The Restaurant in 2008, judged by Raymond Blanc and, Sarah Willingham who are now both on the board. The company has raised £121,930 from 68 investors on its target of £750,000.

 

Dirt Factory will be the UK’s first indoor bike park based in Manchester. Catering for mountain bikes and BMXs, the company plans to create indoor trails to attract the growing community of cyclists in the UK, and plans to open two more indoor parks in the UK and Europe. Currently overfunding by 145%, Dirt Factory has already raised £436,350 from 543 investors with 1 day still left to go.

 

 

 

Scottish Female Angel Investors Can Emulate US Success in Funding Deals

 

Breaking 300 Investor Mark Could Give £140M Boost to Economy

 

 

Scotland’s first conference for female angel investors and entrepreneurs will be urged to emulate US success where one in four angel investors are female.

 

In Scotland that figure is closer to 1 in 20 out of an estimated 1200 investors, but Investing Women chief executive officer Jackie Waring believes the gap can be narrowed over the next five years.

 

More than 200 delegates will today (Mon 7 March) gather at Edinburgh’s Dynamic Earth for Investing Women’s inaugural Ambition & Growth conference which brings together successful and would-be entrepreneurs and established angel investors.

 

Mrs Waring said her group’s ambition was to help increase Scotland’s female angels from an estimated 60 to 300, matching the female representation already achieved in the USA, and in the process giving the Scottish economy a significant boost.

 

Recent research on behalf of veteran Archangels Investors group found that every £1 of investment it had created since its foundation in 1992 had generated the equivalent of £14 in turnover, equating to a £1.3 billion uplift to the economy.

 

She said: “Based on the £44 million raised with the support of angel investment in Scotland last year, if we can get close to the US level of female investors, the additional investment generated could be worth £140 million per year to the economy. That will take time and a lot of hard work but it has already been done in the USA so why not here?

 

“Investing Women’s aims to help improve awareness amongst women and remove some of the barriers and misconceptions surrounding angel investment. One of those misconceptions is that you need to be a multi-millionaire to become an angel which simply isn’t true.

 

“Understanding risk is key and we recognise that everyone has their own risk tolerance level, but many women we’ve spoken to find angel investment an attractive proposition where they love working with the dynamic entrepreneurs whilst having their money working harder for them, especially with Government tax incentives which mitigates the investment risk.”

 

Investing Women has been extremely active since launching as an angel group. Within the last 20 months, thanks to Scottish Government entrepreneurial support, over 1000 emerging entrepreneurs and potential new female angels have accessed workshops, events and now the Ambition & Growth Conference.

 

The conference has also attracted blue-chip business backing with sponsorship from Standard Life, while prominent conference speakers include Susan Preston, the US based founder of the world’s first female angel group, unicorn company FanDuel’s Lesley Eccles, Virgin StartUp chief executive Mei Shui, and Scottish Enterprise chief executive Dr Lena Wilson.

 

Stephen Ingledew, MD, Marketing at Standard Life, said: “The entrepreneurial spirit is clearly thriving in Scotland and judging the shortlist for the AccelerateHer competition, I was inspired by the creativity and collaboration evident in the work being done. Businesses of all sizes can learn from the dynamism of small businesses, particularly when it comes to meeting the evolving needs of customers. I’m looking forward to speaking to more entrepreneurs and innovators about this at the conference.”

 

Centrepiece of the two-day conference is a gala dinner tonight (Mon 7 March) at Edinburgh Castle hosted by the Scottish Government’s Minister for Youth and Women’s Employment, Annabelle Ewing, MSP, who will announce the winner of an £18,000 Chiene + Tait AccelerateHER pitching competition for entrepreneurs. 

 

Minister for Youth and Women’s Employment, Ms Ewing said: “I would like to congratulate Investing Women, Scotland’s only female business angel group, on launching its inaugural pitch competition dedicated to Women’s entrepreneurs, AccelerateHer.

 

“The Scottish Government believes that supporting more women to set up and succeed in business is an economic priority and is committed to closing the gender-gap in enterprise.

 

“Through Scotland CAN DO, our joint national statement of intent towards becoming a world-leading entrepreneurial and innovative nation, we make clear that growth and enterprising activity is a valid and viable option for all.”

 

 

Chief executive of Scottish Enterprise, Dr Lena Wilson, said: "Scotland's women are already leading the way in so many areas but we must translate this success right across our business sector if we are to achieve our full potential and the significant additional benefit to our economy this would bring.

“Conferences like Ambition & Growth highlight the huge appetite so many women have to contribute more and we must do all we can to continue to foster, grow and support that ambition."