UK Startup Community’s Outcry Leads Innovate UK to Honor Full Grant Promise for Female Founders

Innovate UK, Britain’s innovation agency, reversed its decision to award only 25 of the 50 promised grants to female founders in its Women in Innovation scheme, following public outcry.

This news article originally appeared in Sifted by Amy Lewin. 

Initially, only 25 grants of up to £75,000 each were awarded from a pool of 1,452 applications, despite having up to £4 million available. After backlash and demands for transparency from female founders and the wider community, Innovate UK announced it would honor its original commitment to award all 50 grants, totaling £4 million.

This decision has highlighted concerns about bias in funding processes. As Bridget Greenwood of The 200Bn Club emphasized, the incident shows the need for Innovate UK and similar institutions to ensure fair and equitable assessments. Innovate UK apologized for the initial decision, acknowledged its mistake, and reassured its commitment to supporting women innovators. The Women in Innovation scheme, active since 2016, aims to increase opportunities for female founders and has awarded over £10 million to 200 women so far.

In a broader context, the percentage of venture funding reaching all-female founding teams in the UK and Europe has remained stagnant at just 2%, with only 18% of high-growth enterprises in the UK having a female founder.

Please head over to see the full article written by Amy Lewin at Sifted The original article includes links to content with more context and detail.