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In partnership with Angel Academe, we were delighted to host the launch webinar of our new partnership fund, the UK's first EIS fund focused on female-founded businesses. The event featured insights from industry experts on the persistent funding gap for female entrepreneurs and how this new fund aims to address this imbalance.
The webinar kicked off with our co-founder Tom Britton and Angel Academe founder Sarah Turner discussing the persistent funding gap that continues to hold back female entrepreneurs in the UK.
"Using the Beauhurst data, which looks at all the high-growth companies in the UK... all female-founded businesses secured just 1% of equity capital in the first half of last year," Sarah Turner explained during the webinar. "Most equity investment is going to all-male teams - 86 percent of it."
This stark statistic underscores the mission behind Angel Academe, which has been investing in exceptional female founders since 2014. What began as an initiative to address gender imbalance in startup funding has grown into a substantial network with a strong track record of success.
During the webinar, Turner highlighted Angel Academe's impressive achievements over the past decade: "Since we started in 2014, we've backed 54 tech startups through over a hundred funding rounds, and we've helped them leverage about £200 million in co-investment."
This co-investment has come from some of the most respected names in venture capital, including Boulderdon Capital, Octopus, and S4S Ventures (Martin Sorrell's fund). The network regularly co-invests with Cambridge Angels and has established partnerships with Alumni Ventures (one of the most active VCs in the US) and Innovate UK.
What makes Angel Academe's approach unique is their hands-on investment style. As Turner explained: "We have a structured process for opportunity selection, which includes some very detailed and structured due diligence, which results in a document called the DIAL Memo, which we share between investors."
This collaborative due diligence process leverages expertise from different investors in their network, ensuring thorough evaluation of potential investments.
The webinar highlighted several success stories from Angel Academe's portfolio, demonstrating the potential of female-founded companies when properly capitalised:
"BEA Fertility has developed a fertility device that competes with IVF, but it's clinical grade, but you do it at home, there are no hormones, no hassle, and it's a fraction of the price," Turner shared. Since Angel Academe's initial investment in 2020, the company has increased its valuation by 8.4x and recently received approval to enter the US market.
Another portfolio company helps brands and retailers verify their green data claims - an increasingly crucial service as regulators crack down on false environmental claims. Their client list includes major brands like Holland & Barrett, THG, and Hermes, demonstrating how these female-founded startups are securing significant commercial traction.
The webinar detailed how the new fund will operate, with our co-founder Tom Britton explaining our role: "Syndicate Room's role in this endeavor is to provide the infrastructure for the management of the fund. We are fully FCA regulated."
He clarified that while we are listed as the fund manager for compliance and administrative purposes, Angel Academe serves as the mentor to the fund and "will be responsible for the selection and due diligence of the deal flow."
The fund targets a raise of £1.2-1.5 million, to be invested across 7-10 companies. Britton explained the timing considerations: "The aim for the deployment is to have it deployed in the current tax year, which means the deployment's completed before April 5th, 2026." This timing allows investments to be carried back to the 24-25 tax year for EIS purposes.
Turner emphasised that the fund will follow the same investment process as Angel Academy's direct investments: "So we will go through the same structured due diligence process."
When asked about target sectors, Turner outlined the fund's focus areas: "We are doing a lot of investing in med tech and health tech. We do some enterprise software. We're very keen on clean tech. EdTech is another category, and last but not least, fintech is quite popular with the group."
This sectoral diversification helps manage risk, as Turner explained: "I think there is diversification in terms of sectors as well... I would always recommend diversify what you look at." She noted that even investors focused on specific sectors like health tech often diversify by investing in different segments or business models.
Britton asked Turner about what distinguishes the companies that ultimately receive investment after pitching to Angel Academe. Her response highlighted several key factors:
"A big one for me personally is emotionally intelligent founders, founders that try and understand how investors think," Turner explained. "Financially literate founders as well... people who take care to understand what investment will be required and when in the future."
She also emphasised the importance of sector knowledge and startup experience: "There's quite a strong preference for founding teams that have sector and startup experience, so they really understand their market, and then they also understand what it takes to build and scale a startup."
The webinar concluded with practical details about the fund's timeline. Our co-founder Tom Britton confirmed that the fund is now open on our website, with a closing date at the end of October. The minimum investment is £10,000, with investments above that in increments of £10,000.
"While the fund does close in October, if you're thinking about investing, please do discuss it earlier rather than later," Britton advised.
