According to Pitchbook, women-founded startups account for 2% or less of venture capital (VC) funding invested in Europe and the United States. To tackle this, the Department for Business and Trade’s Venture Capital Unit recently launched the Female Founders Initiative, addressing the funding gap facing some of the UK’s most promising tech founders.
According to Pitchbook, women-founded startups account for 2% or less of venture capital (VC) funding invested in Europe and the United States. To tackle this, the Department for Business and Trade’s Venture Capital Unit recently launched the Female Founders Initiative, addressing the funding gap facing some of the UK’s most promising tech founders.
This initiative will support female founders to raise funds from international venture capital investors.
We’re spotlighting the initiative’s latest cohort, who will be offered mentors, promoted to Venture Capital investors around the world and given opportunities to join investment events.
1. Nadia Sood
Nadia is the CEO of CreditEnable, a fintech platform that is transforming the market for SME credit. The company applies proprietary data analytics and Al to help lenders grow efficiently and provides digital services to help SMEs access affordable credit when they need it.
She has been instrumental in developing the technology, adapting the business to reach new customer segments, enhancing revenue streams and cementing CreditEnable’s reputation as a global leader in addressing the finance gaps for SMEs.
2. Dr Amber Michelle Hill
Amber is the founder of Research Grid, an automation engine for admin-free clinical trials. Previously, she was a medical research expert and was pivotal in setting up the first patient engagement infrastructure at the clinical trials facility in the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery.
What began as an idea to solve admin bottlenecks is now helping to accelerate new treatments. Amber has been named as one of the Financial Times’ 100 most influential women in engineering.
3. Louise Birritteri
Louise is the CEO & founder of Pikl, an Insurtech focused on the holiday rental and sharing economy markets. Louise has 20 years’ experience in the insurance market, working at Aviva, RAC, Gallagher, Sainsburys and the Co-op.
She also has a background in actuarial and finance in C suite roles. Recently, Louise was nominated as a finalist for female high growth entrepreneur of the year at the UKBAA (UK British Angel Awards).
4. Peony Li
Peony is the founder of Jude, a healthcare company focused on bringing bladder care into the mainstream with its clinically proven bladder health plans, supplements and symptom tracker. Jude has improved the lives of 70,000 customers in the UK to date.
Before founding Jude in 2021, Peony supported the launch of Daye, one of the biggest venture-capital backed women’s health platforms in 2019.
5. Heinin Zhang and Siddhi Mittal
Heinin and Siddhi are co-founders of yhangry, a consumer marketplace where customers can book a private chef at the same cost as going to a restaurant. The platform also empowers chefs to build their portfolio, upskill faster and earn 2-3x more than in a restaurant.
Siddhi brings a technical background in Computer Science from Columbia University coupled with experience in trading bonds, while Heinin brings credentials in Economics and Philosophy from LSE and experience in Fixed Income sales.
6. Mehak Mumtaz
Mehak is co-founder and chief operating officer at iLoF, an Al-powered platform that accelerates personalised drug discovery and development by building a digital library of biomarkers and biological profiles using advanced photonics. This enables faster and more accurate patient screening for clinical trials, reducing clinical trial time by 40% and costs by 70%. Mehak holds a Masters in Biochemistry and a PhD in Pathology from the University of Oxford.
7. Dr Susan Graham
Susan is the co-founder and CEO of Dendra Systems, an Al-powered environmental operating system that accelerates ecosystem restoration at scale. So far, Dendra’s platform has enabled large-scale ecosystem restoration across mangrove, arid and mining lands. She has leveraged her expertise in engineering and natural sciences and has earned numerous accolades including Forbes’ 30 Under 30.
8. Melissa Snover
Melissa is an award-winning entrepreneur and the inventor of several patented technologies. In 2019, she founded Rem3dy Health and raised the highest-ever female founder seed round in UK history. Rem3dy Health is dedicated to personalised health solutions for both preventative and curative care through its brands, Nourished and Scripted.
The business was recently honoured with the prestigious King’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation, for the use of patented 3D-printing technology and a unique vegan encapsulation formula.
9. Saasha Celestial-One and Tessa Clarke
Saasha and Tessa are the co-founders of Olio, the world’s largest food-sharing app. The duo are on a mission to solve the climate crisis by addressing the enormous problem of food waste in homes & local communities. Olio’s 8 million users globally share over three million food and household items per month, saving around 5,000 tonnes of CO2 and 700m litres of water monthly. Both Saasha and Tessa have executive-level experience across the private sector and both hold MBAs from Stanford University.
10. Dr May Rezai
May is the COO of MirZyme Therapeutics, an early-stage clinical women’s health biopharmaceutical company that has uncovered what causes preeclampsia and how to predict and prevent it. The company’s digital diagnostic algorithm takes blood test results and tells a pregnant woman halfway through pregnancy if she is going to develop preeclampsia.
May has a Ph.D. in preeclampsia and conducted the pre-clinical studies on MirZyme’s lead therapeutics.
If you’re a UK-based female tech founder planning a Series A-C funding round in 2025-26, register your interest to apply for the next cohort here.
Source: The Department for Business and Trade
