Bootstrap4F Secures 130m Pound First Close for Women-Focused Fund

• Bootstrap4F succeeded in securing a first close of £130 million for its fund of funds, dubbed “Women Backing Women”
• The fund is dedicated to boosting women’s involvement in the allocation of capital to ventures
• This is a major achievement in the history of the UK’s venture capital industry

Bootstrap4F has hit the first close of its “Women Backing Women” fund of funds at £130 million. The milestone is part of the larger trend in the UK of shaping the way in which venture capital is distributed by increasing the number of women in capital management.

The fund is being led by Fatou Diagne and Stéphanie Heller, cofounders and managing partners of Bootstrap Europe, along with Matthias Ummenhofer, the founding partner of Mojo Capital and former head of venture capital at the European Investment Fund.

The fund managers were chosen from over 25 applicants with a combined track record of £4.4 billion in fund selection.

The fund was launched with the support of the government-backed Invest in Women Taskforce. It is the first fund of funds in the UK with the specific mandate of investing in female-led or mixed-gender fund managers.

The fund is looking to reach a final close of £250 million. It is structured with the idea of addressing the gap at the next level in the ecosystem. The idea is that changes in capital allocation require changes in the management of capital.

The first close has now been completed on 31 March and involves commitments from Barclays, Nationwide, the British Business Bank, and M&G, representing public and private institutional investors.

The Invest in Women Taskforce reports that a small percentage of equity investments in 2025 were for fully female-founded teams, which Bootstrap4F aims to change through institutional investment.

The fund is part of a wider £635m pool of commitments for the Taskforce, with over £70m already invested through partners such as the British Business Bank, BGF, Aviva, and Morgan Stanley.

Bootstrap4F will now look to invest in fund managers based on specific criteria based on gender diversity and commercial performance, in order to increase investment in female-founded startups indirectly.