The Invest in Women Taskforce has secured more than £250m of funding to support female entrepreneurs in the UK.

The taskforce, which is backed by the Treasury and Department for Business and Trade, was established in March 2024 with the aim of making the UK the “best place in the world” to be a female entrepreneur.

Barclays, M&G, British Business Bank, and Aviva have each committed £50m, while BGF and Morgan Stanley have contributed £25m and Visa Foundation committed £5m, to invest either directly or through the ‘Women backing Women’ fund, subject to investment restrictions and process.

The process to select a fund manager or managers to deploy the Women backing Women fund capital has been launched.

By becoming signatories, the investors have expressed their alignment with the objectives of the taskforce and their intention to materially support the taskforce’s goal.

As a result, the taskforce is facilitating an investment of more than £250m, which will invest/allocate capital in companies in the UK that have either at least one member of the founding team who is female, or the most executive position is held by a woman.

The taskforce stated that this would ensure that any route to funding will be via UK-based, female-led investment managers or investment managers with a majority of female investment decision makers to “effect systemic change in the industry”.

The investment exceeds the taskforce’s initial goal of an investment pool of £250m for female-led and mixed businesses.

An event to be hosted at Mansion House will officially launch the taskforce investment pool and the fund manager selection process for the Women backing Women fund, ahead of which the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said: “We all, including myself as the first female Chancellor, have a responsibility to make the economy work better for women.

“Initiatives like the Invest in Women Taskforce funding pool are a fantastic example of the public and private sectors working together to help unlock the potential of female founders and seize opportunities to fire up the government’s number one mission of economic growth.”

The Invest in Women Taskforce investment pool will be deployed through female investment decision makers across the UK, recognising that female investors are twice as likely to invest in female-led and mixed businesses, seeking to break down the systemic barriers faced by women entrepreneurs and investors.

The announcement follows data from the taskforce revealing that all-female founded businesses received just 1.8 per cent (£145m) of the total value of equity investment in the first half of 2024, a fall from 2.5 per cent in 2023.

“Female entrepreneurs and investors have been sidelined for too long – they are two sides of the same coin,” commented Invest in Women Taskforce co-chair and multi-exit entrepreneur, Debbie Wosskow.

“It’s time we rebooted the system and gave female investors the power to drive change, and funds like the Women backing Women fund is how we do it.

“I’m thrilled that investors from both the public and private sector have joined us and recognise the enormous opportunity here, but this is only the beginning, we need more investors to come aboard and join us on this journey.”

Invest in Women Taskforce co-chair and Barclays head of business banking, Hannah Bernard, added: "Our funding partners not only recognise the moral imperative to drive systemic change for female investors and founders, they recognise that this also makes strong commercial sense.

“Studies show that female-led businesses generate 35 per cent higher returns than male-led businesses. The ‘Invest in Women’ funding pool is about changing the landscape of investment. I’m incredibly excited about what’s to come.”

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