Strategy
Embolden And Empower: HNW Women's Role In Driving UK Growth

The author of this article argues that the rise of female angel investors is not just a matter of equity, it is a critical driver of UK growth.
The following article examines the role that high net worth
women play in driving UK economic growth. Given that UK growth
has been anaemic, relatively speaking, in recent years, there is
certainly a need to find solutions to ensure that all sources of
capital are tapped. Using the capabilities of HNW
individuals, including women who hold significant capital, is
therefore an urgent need.
As reported here a few days ago, HNW individuals and family
offices have played an increasingly important role in corporate
mergers and acquisitions, for example.
A significant problem is that female-founded businesses miss out
on much of the equity funding. Hannah Bernard (pictured),
co-chair of the Invest in Women Taskforce and head of Business
Banking, Barclays,
considers the nature of the challenge, what to do about it, and
the outlook.
The editors are pleased to share these views; the usual editorial
disclaimers apply. To comment, email tom.burroughes@wealthbriefing.com
and amanda.cheesley@clearviewpublishing.com
Across the UK, declining levels of investment confidence are
threatening to stifle the growth of businesses. Given that
all-female founded teams received just 2 per cent of all UK
equity investment in 2024 (Beauhurst) it’s likely that they will
feel the brunt of this decline.
As investors become more risk-aware and capital flow is reduced,
biases mean that women will face even greater difficulty in
securing the funding they need to start and scale their
businesses. The two need to be tackled together: female founders
present a significant, untapped economic opportunity, and if
women were to start and scale businesses at the same rate as men,
it could add £250 billion ($336.4 billion) to the UK economy
(Rose Review). With the government’s ambitious Industrial
Strategy now launched, setting out a new economic approach to
backing the UK’s strengths, this is the time to change the
story.
This issue is not confined to one stage of the investment journey
but persists across the entire ecosystem. One area that deserves
particular focus is angel investment: angel investors play a
critical role in providing early-stage funding, often providing
one of the first substantial injections of capital into
businesses.
However, the unfortunate reality is that the angel investment
landscape is far from equitable. Only 14 per cent of angel
investors in the UK are female (UKBAA). This disparity has
far-reaching consequences. We know that women are twice as likely
back a woman than a male investor, so fewer female angels mean
fewer women-backed businesses – it’s a feedback loop we urgently
need to break (Kauffman Fellows).
Addressing this will not only put female-led businesses on a more
equal footing; it is a commercial and economic imperative.
Getting more high net worth women engaged in angel investing
represents unrealised potential that could drive innovation. But
many have never been asked – or equipped – to consider angel
investing as part of the way they use their wealth and power.
A report by the UK Business Angels Association found that the top
barriers to investing for females were a lack of awareness and
access to information, a lack of opportunity to meet
entrepreneurs, misconceptions of what angel investing is, and the
perception that angel investing is far too risky and reserved for
the extremely wealthy (UKBAA).
Until we combat these barriers, we risk missing out on the
significant contributions that female entrepreneurs and investors
can make to the UK’s business landscape.
So, what needs to be done?
Last year the Invest in Women Taskforce, in partnership with The
Entrepreneurs Network, identified the key barriers in preventing
more women from becoming angel investors in the UK. The report
found that angel syndicates offer an important route for women
considering angel investing – providing vital education as
well as community, support and facilitating a lower investment
ticket size. Yet awareness and accessibility remain limited,
particularly outside London.
On top of that, awareness of tax relief schemes like the
Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and SEIS remains low amongst
both investors and entrepreneurs. Despite their potential to
incentivise early-stage investment, 90 per cent of female angel
investors weren’t made aware of SEIS or EIS by their financial
advisor (EHE Venture Studio).
Additionally, smaller, regional female-led angel groups often
struggle to access co-investment programmes which tend to favour
well-established, venture capital-style entities in financial
hubs. It is estimated that over half of angel investors are based
in London or the South East, leaving many parts of the UK
underserved (British Business Bank).
To drive meaningful change, we need to normalise angel investing
for high net worth women as part of a modern wealth portfolio.
Secondly, we must raise awareness of schemes such as
SEIS/EIS – through collaboration between the government,
angel networks and financial services firms – to demystify the
process and promote these incentives more proactively to women
with capital.
But we need more – we need to create a more inclusive
investment ecosystem. It was positive to see the recent focus on
the British Business Bank’s Angel programmes via the Chancellor’s
Industrial Strategy: the expansion of the bank’s Regional Angels
Programme to help reduce regional imbalances in access to
early-stage equity, and the expansion of diverse angel networks
through new Angel Syndicate Support and Embracing Diversity
programmes.
These are crucial for delivering operational support and opening
the door to more underrepresented angel investors. We need more
like this across the country to help foster diverse investment
communities, because by addressing these structural challenges,
we can unlock the full potential of female investors.
The rise of female angel investors is not just a matter of
equity; it is a critical driver of UK growth. By increasing the
number of women participating in angel investing, we can unlock
new opportunities for female entrepreneurs and strengthen the
UK’s business ecosystem. The time to act on this is
now.
About the author
Hannah Barnard became head of Business Banking for Barclays
UK in April 2020, leading a team of over 3,000 colleagues to
provide support to one million small and medium enterprise (SME)
founders to grow and scale their businesses. She joined
Barclays in 2015 as the chief financial officer for Personal
Banking before running the mortgages business for three years.
She has previously held a range of leadership roles at
Sainsbury’s and Sainsbury’s Bank. She is also co-chair of the
government-backed, industry-led Invest in Women Taskforce and
Exec sponsor for the Barclays UK Colleague Council and the Autism
Focus Group. She remains an ally of the Barclays LGBT+ employee
resource group, Spectrum.