Businesses founded, led, owned or managed by women are increasingly attracting private investment but exit market concerns could signal funding roadblocks ahead.
J.P. Morgan Private Bank has published its fourth annual Top 200 Women-Powered Businesses report, which shows that since 2014 private investment in businesses founded, led or managed by women in the UK has tripled, reaching £4.01 billion today.
Since J.P. Morgan Private Bank’s inaugural report in 2021, the number of UK high-growth businesses has increased by 47.1% from 33,300 to 49,000 businesses. Over this same period, the proportion of women-powered businesses also surged, from 18.3% in 2021 to 29.7% in 2024.
“This surge in female entrepreneurship has transformed the UK’s scale up scene. By increasing both the number and proportion of women-owned enterprises, we’re also taking a crucial step towards improved gender parity”, said Maya Prabhu, Market Head – UK Domestic at J.P. Morgan Private Bank.
Eight Wales-headquartered businesses feature in the Top 200:
- Mandarin Stone
- Dulas
- Genpower
- Unionburger
- Ron Skinner & Sons
- Parry & Evans
- Runtech
- Cultech
The report highlights that in Wales the total equity investment in women-powered businesses between 2014 and 2023 was £254 million. The figure for grant funding awarded to women-powered businesses in Wales between the same period was £33.7 million.
It says that Wales has a small population of high-growth businesses compared to other UK regions, with 1,662 companies, 31.4% of which are women-powered.
It highlights that the prevalence of more traditional industries – and Wales’ lower population – feed into its comparatively lower number of high-growth businesses. Many of the top 10 companies in Wales operate in more traditional sectors, the report highlights. For example, Mandarin Stone manufactures stone and porcelain flooring, while Genpower supplies heavy machinery.
Over the last decade, private investment in women-powered businesses increased from £781 million in 2014 to £4.01 billion in 2023, with deal numbers more than doubling during this time.
The report says that this reflects the wider trend across the high-growth ecosystem, where private investment has risen from £5.2 billion in 2014 to £17.3 billion in 2023.
Between 2020 and 2021, equity investment value in women-powered businesses almost doubled (98.6%), reaching £6.90 billion.
“This growth was fuelled by pandemic stimulus measures which channelled capital into UK scale-ups” Prabhu said.
“However, between 2022 and 2023, investment subsequently declined by a third (33.9%), marking a correction following the significant deployment of capital we saw in the preceding years.”
This decline mirrors a broader trend in the high-growth ecosystem, with a 31.6% reduction in equity investment value over the same period.
Among the top 200 women-powered businesses featured in the report, 13.5% have received investment from a Venture Capital (VC). This is a higher proportion compared to the overall women-powered businesses cohort in the UK.
“Here we see the causality runs both ways: companies with high growth potential are more likely to attract VC investment, while those receiving VC investment gain more resources and incentives to grow.” Prabhu said.
Exit activity by high-growth companies in the UK declined significantly in recent years as businesses have experienced a more challenging environment. The total value of exits has declined from £7.60 billion in 2022 to £3.32 billion in 2023. Among these exits was a single £1.15 billion acquisition of a non-women-powered business.
“The recent downturn in exit activity reflects an extremely low liquidity environment for high-growth businesses. As a result, companies and buyers are likely biding their time, waiting for more favourable conditions before pursuing exit strategies.” Prabhu said.
Whilst the total exit value for male-powered businesses decreased by 45.3% in 2023, exit values of women-powered businesses saw a 98.3% downturn.
“This raises concerns for women founders, particularly at the very early stages, given many women entrepreneurs become angel investors and play an instrumental role backing new female founders. Therefore, this will likely contribute to a more challenging funding landscape for women entrepreneurs ahead.” Prabhu said.
Looking at the number of equity investment deals completed in 2023, Internet platforms (396); software-as-a-service (315); and analytics, insights & tools (303) were the top sectors for investment in women-powered businesses, making up 28.1%, 24.0% and 25.9% of the equity deals in these sectors respectively. Meanwhile artificial intelligence is also seeing a notable presence of women-powered businesses, with 519 companies operating within this sector.
“While these figures indicate there is investor demand for women-powered businesses operating in digital technologies, the number of deals completed by these companies is a fraction of the overall number of deals,” said Prabhu. “If we take a look at women-powered Internet platform companies, for example, these businesses accounted for 28.1% of total deals in the sector in 2023. Increasing the number of women starting and leading tech companies is crucial for achieving greater gender parity in investment.”
In the report, women-powered businesses are defined as high-growth companies that are founded, or led by women, have a management team of at least 50% women, or are majority owned by women. High-growth businesses are those that have met one of Beauhurst’s tracking triggers, such as securing equity investment or spinning out of an academic institution, which often indicate a company’s growth potential.
