A flagship government initiative to support female entrepreneurs has come under fire from MPs for delays in delivering promised funding, with members of the women and equalities committee accusing ministers of lacking urgency and vision.
The Invest in Women Taskforce, set up under the previous government to improve access to capital for female-led businesses, has raised over £250 million. However, ministers now say the fund will not begin investing until the end of 2025 — a full year after the fundraising was announced.
Speaking during a Commons committee session, Baroness Gustafsson, the investment minister, was questioned over the delay. Liberal Democrat MP Alex Brewer said progress was moving at a “tippy-toe” pace rather than with “great big strides”, accusing the government of a lack of boldness and failing to grasp the scale of opportunity.
Brewer was joined by committee chair Sarah Owen, who voiced the group’s “frustration”, particularly at the omission of female entrepreneurs from the government’s industrial strategy.
“This omission is devastating,” Brewer said. “It demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the structural barriers women face.”
Figures published earlier this year highlight the disparity: all-women founding teams received just 1.8 per cent of UK venture capital funding in the first half of 2024 — a decline from 2.5 per cent in 2023.
The Rose Review previously found that bridging the gender funding gap could unlock over £250 billion for the UK economy if women scaled businesses at the same rate as men. Owen called this “a massive prize” that should be central to government growth plans.
The committee opened its inquiry into female entrepreneurship in February to examine the barriers women face in starting and growing companies. Key challenges identified include limited access to funding, lack of representation in high-growth sectors, and a shortage of tailored support.
Gareth Thomas MP (Pictured), the minister responsible for entrepreneurship, acknowledged that access to finance remains the “single biggest obstacle” for women-led businesses. He said the government’s upcoming SME strategy would address this, alongside increased funding for the British Business Bank.
Entrepreneur and investor Debbie Wosskow, who co-chairs the Invest in Women Taskforce with Barclays’ head of business banking Hannah Bernard, described the UK as “a pretty terrible place” to be a female entrepreneur, citing entrenched bias in the investment landscape.
Despite the challenges, some female-led firms are breaking through. Earlier this week, ecommerce delivery startup Hived, co-founded by CEO Murvah Iqbal, announced a $42 million funding round to grow its all-electric fleet across southern England.
However, MPs say these successes are the exception, not the rule. The committee is expected to publish recommendations in the coming weeks, urging the government to accelerate the rollout of the fund and prioritise women-led enterprise in its broader economic policy.
“The talent and ambition are already there,” Owen said. “Now government must match it with decisive action.”
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‘Invest in Women’ fund criticised for slow rollout as MPs call for bolder action