Report Questions 8.2 Billion Euros Claim on Women's Business Sales by Bowmore Wealth Group

• Bowmore Wealth Group said that women entrepreneurs made £8.2 billion from the sale of businesses, stating the figures are from "last year"
• The figures were procured via a Freedom of Information request to HMRC and relate to the tax year 2022/23
• The period mentioned by Bowmore does not coincide with the period covered by the data, and therefore the statement is likely to be misleading

Based on a study by Bowmore Wealth Group, UK female entrepreneurs earned £8.2 billion from the sale of their businesses last year, according to the report. On closer examination, it's revealed that the amount is sourced from Freedom of Information (FOI) data from HMRC from the 2022/23 tax year and not the latest one. Hence, Bowmore's assertion could be misleading.

During the same time, male entrepreneurs sold £25.32 billion—roughly three times that. Without knowing how many male and female business owners were included in the figures, though, it's impossible to know whether this disparity is because of size, valuation, or profitability of the companies. Neither does the report provide insight into how many businesses were sold or how many of them involved a split of genders, making it impossible to conclude who best are at monetizing their business.

One of the issues the report does underscore is that women entrepreneurs still have a problem obtaining funding. Bowmore cites information from the British Business Bank's Annual Reports. In 2024, 40 percent of startup loans were granted to women-led companies. That percentage fell to 39 percent in 2025.

Perhaps most surprisingly, Bowmore did not cite the British Business Bank's further research on venture capital, which explicitly states that access is not even. That report observes: "By persistent and significant action, the venture capital sector can release the enormous untapped potential of diverse entrepreneurs throughout the UK."

Gill Millen, MD Bowmore Financial Planning, commented, "It is encouraging to see that there are so many women entrepreneurs now creating and selling successful businesses. Nevertheless, female entrepreneurs often say that the playing field is not yet level."

The Bowmore report quotes the example of Kate Price, an entrepreneur who set up the wellness brand Ancient + Brave, and raised £7 million of investment. She claimed that far too many women are excluded from investment opportunities such as hers.

To back that up, figures from the Invest in Women Taskforce indicate that during the first half of 2024, only £145 million in funding went to female-led companies—a mere 1.8 percent of the overall figure. That's lower than 2.5 percent in the previous year.

The Taskforce is hoping to turn that around. It has pledged to direct investment through female investment decision-makers, because statistically they are twice as likely to invest in female or mixed-gender teams. The idea is to break long-standing barriers for women in entrepreneurship and investment.