Government-Backed Funding for Women Rises as Female CEO Numbers Hit Eight-Year Low

The British Business Bank has pledged £1 million to back female founders, as recent data shows the number of women leading mid-market businesses falls to its lowest in nearly a decade.

The state-backed lender said the capital will be deployed through Angel Academe's Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) fund, which invests in high-growth businesses with at least one female founder.

The move comes amid longstanding concerns that women-led businesses continue to attract a disproportionately small share of venture capital (VC) in the UK.

Funding Gap Persists

Research from the British Business Bank has repeatedly shown the scale of the imbalance.

The VC and Female Founders report found that, in 2017, all-female founder teams received just 4% of UK VC deals, while over 80% of deals involved teams with no women at all.

Female founders still receive less than 2% of UK VC funding—a figure that has barely changed in a decade despite repeated industry diversity pledges.

Sarah Turner, CEO of Angel Academe, said in a statement to Business Matters that the issue is not a lack of talent but access to capital.

'We have a funding problem,' she said. 'By partnering with the British Business Bank, we're able to put more capital into the hands of women who are building the future of healthcare, data, and commerce.'

Female CEO Numbers Fall

New data from Grant Thornton UK suggests that progress in gender equality is also being undermined by stagnating representation, with gains made in previous years beginning to reverse.

According to its Women in Business 2026 report, the proportion of female CEOs in UK mid-market companies has fallen from 24% in 2025 to 17% in 2026, which is the lowest level recorded in eight years.

Fiona Baldwin, Chief Operating Officer at Grant Thornton UK, said that the issue is shaped by earlier career progression pathways that determine who reaches leadership positions.

'Women are often overlooked for early career sponsorship, stretch assignments and P&L experience, which means the pipeline into top jobs remains too narrow,' Baldwin said.

This suggests that while new funding initiatives may help strengthen the start-up pipeline, UK business leadership at the mid-market level is still moving in the wrong direction.

Sahar Hashemi, founder of Buy Women Built, said female-led businesses often struggle because consumers are not aware they are supporting women founders.

'The biggest barrier facing female founders isn't a lack of funding programmes. It's invisibility,' she said, adding that purchase intent nearly doubled when shoppers could identify a product as female-founded through the Buy Women Built mark.

Growing Disconnect in UK Business Leadership

There is a clear contradiction in the UK's gender equality landscape, given UK businesses report stronger commitment to gender equality than almost anywhere else in the world.

According to Grant Thornton, around 43% of UK mid-market firms say they remain committed to gender equality initiatives, ahead of a global average of 39%.

The figures point to a widening gap between corporate support for gender diversity and the continued lack of women in senior leadership.

The British Business Bank and Angel Academe initiative may help expand the pipeline of female-founded businesses, but the latest figures show that turning support into lasting change in leadership remains a challenge.