Tech start-ups with female founders are defying marked downward trends, according to a new report commissioned by Amazon Web Services (AWS).
The report, conducted by Beauhurst, revealed that tech companies with at least one woman founder have grown from almost £75.1m to £1.85b in 2022. Similarly, the number of these deals has grown from 103 to 850 in the same time period.
Despite this positive news, startup tech companies with at least one woman founder are still underrepresented in terms of private funding, receiving just 8.96% of equity investments made into high-growth technology businesses in the UK.
The research also found that UK company incorporations with at least one woman director increased from 211,000 in 2013 to a record 272,000 in 2022. However, they still represent only 34.2% of the 796,000 total incorporations in 2022.
The report shines a light on the UK’s funding landscape – with a particular focus on women tech founders and other underrepresented entrepreneurs – to show where progress is being made and highlight opportunities to enhance and support diversity further.
Speaking about the findings, Tanuja Randery, EMEA Managing Director, Amazon Web Services (AWS), said, “We are pleased to sponsor the ‘Gender and diversity in UK tech: Women founders and other underrepresented entrepreneurs’ report from Beauhurst, which is helping to shine a light on the UK’s funding landscape, show where progress is being made, and highlight where there might be opportunities to enhance and support diversity further.”
“Since day one, Amazon Web Services has been dedicated to supporting startups so that they can innovate, compete, and grow in the UK and beyond with the cloud.”
“We are proud that anyone, anywhere, whether they are in a high-rise office or at their kitchen table, can access the same technologies and build companies that will make a positive impact on the world.”
“We are committed to initiatives which help to level the playing field for startups, and the programmes we have built are already enabling underrepresented founders to thrive.”
“For example, the AWS Activate programme has helped hundreds of thousands of early-stage startups including underrepresented founders of UK companies like Unitary, Streetbees, and Hertility.”
