Invest in Women Taskforce Raises 635 Million Euro, Exceeds Goal

• The Invest in Women Taskforce has secured £635 million, surpassing its initial target of £250 million
• Funding is targeted to support women entrepreneurs

The taskforce has surpassed its fundraising target, amassing a total of £635 million in commitments, which is over double the initial £250 million goal set back in 2024. This announcement represents a key milestone in the project of driving investment into female entrepreneurship.

Nationwide and the British Business Bank have confirmed plans to join Barclays and M&G as anchor partners in the planned £130 million first close of the Women Backing Women Fund of Funds, subject to final terms and approvals.

The fund is managed by Bootstrap4F and is the largest female-led fund of funds globally, with the first initiative of its type in the UK focused on deploying capital into female-founded companies and gender-balanced venture capital teams.

According to the Taskforce's first Annual Report, more than £70 million was deployed in 2025 across 15 founders and funds, with a growing pipeline supporting continued progress. Overall, the funding pool now represents one of the largest coordinated global efforts to expand investment opportunities for women entrepreneurs.

Yet despite the momentum, significant discrepancies persist. Research by Beauhurst and the Taskforce puts the figure of UK equity investment into fully female founded businesses at just 2 percent.

Left to current trends, the Taskforce believes it will take a minimum of a decade to reach parity in funding between all-male teams and all-female or mixed-gender teams.

This problem has been pointed out by the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee, too, which has called on government and industry leaders to increase investments in female-led entrepreneurship.

Ahead of an event at Downing Street to mark the publication of the Annual Report, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said supporting women entrepreneurs aligns with the government's wider economic ambitions.

She noted that barriers to women starting and scaling businesses needed to be removed, and she emphasized policy commitments to improve economic outcomes for women.

Hannah Bernard, executive at Barclays and co-chair of the Taskforce, emphasized the economic rationale for supporting women-led businesses, citing data showing returns are higher from female-led ventures. She said investment committees and capital allocation processes also needed to have greater gender balance.

Debbie Wosskow OBE, entrepreneur and co-chair of the Taskforce, said: "Progress made by the fund shows what might be achieved through better investment, but it's also clear that too much UK venture capital goes to all-male teams. We urgently need more investors to step up and play their part in closing the gender funding gap".

The Taskforce continues to encourage institutional investors, pension funds, and corporates to engage in ways that can help progress investment equity in the UK.