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The Gender Index was established to create positive change for women, driven by data

12/06/2026

Growing faster. Funded less.

Female-led companies grew turnover faster than any other group in 2025. They also lost ground on investment. Both things are true, and that is exactly the problem.

The Gender Index 2026 report tracks what actually changed between 2024 and 2025. Here is the picture.

The share of active female-led companies dipped from 18.2% to 18.0%. Across 5.3 million active UK companies, that fraction matters.

On performance, the story is strong. Female-led companies grew turnover at 22.1% on average – outpacing male-led (17.8%) and mixed-led (18.0%) businesses.

On capital, the story runs in reverse. The proportion of female-led companies securing external investment fell from 12.8% to 12.1%. In every single UK region, female-led companies were less likely to attract investment than male-led ones.

High-growth representation increased from 12.9% to 13.2% but sits well below the 18.0% active company rate.

Performance from female founders is there. The recognition and investment is still lacking.

Read The Gender Index 2026 report: https://thegenderindex.co.uk/reports

10/06/2026

By 2030, female-led companies are projected to make up just 18% of UK businesses.

A modest 2-3% increase from this year.

The Gender Index uses advanced predictive modelling, trained on company incorporation and dissolution data from 2010 to 2025, to map where the UK is headed. The conclusion is clear: without targeted and structural intervention, the pace of change will remain slow, and insufficient.

Progress is not zero, but it is far too small to constitute meaningful change.

London continues to lead, reflecting stronger access to capital and a more developed entrepreneurial ecosystem. Meanwhile, several regions are projected to remain persistently below the national average, reinforcing long-standing geographic disparities in opportunity and support.

At a sector level, the picture is equally familiar. Female leadership remains concentrated in health, education and social care. In construction, energy, and financial services, movement is negligible. Even in fintech and digital technology, where conditions are more favourable, progress is falling short.

The modelling does not advocate for change, it simply shows the consequences of inaction. The future, as currently shaped, looks remarkably like the present.

The question is whether that is acceptable.

Read The Gender Index 2026 report: https://thegenderindex.co.uk/reports

04/06/2026

The conversation has shifted. And it's about time.

For too long, underinvestment in female founders was excused, not enough confidence, not enough readiness. Debbie Wosskow and Hannah Bernard, co-chairs of the Invest in Women Taskforce, are clear that framing was wrong. The problem is the investment system itself.

Only 16% of senior investment professionals in the UK are women – and women are twice as likely to back women-led businesses. The maths is not complicated.

The Taskforce has convened £635m in capital commitments, more than double its original £250m target, with over £70m already deployed via the Women Backing Women Fund of Funds – the largest female-led fund of funds globally.

The commercial case is unambiguous: female-led companies generate 35% better returns. Yet The Gender Index 2026 report shows just 12.1% secured external investment in 2025, against 18.5% of male-led companies, across every UK region.

This is a capital allocation problem. The data makes the cost of inaction impossible to ignore.

Read the full Elite Business interview: https://elitebusinessmagazine.co.uk/interviews/item/taking-the-uk-investment-community-to-task

Read The Gender Index 2026 report: https://thegenderindex.co.uk/reports

29/05/2026

Northern Ireland's performance is there. The pipeline isn't.

15.9% of active companies are female-led – the lowest of any UK nation. Female-led incorporations fell from 18.9% in 2024 to 17.2% in 2025.

But where female-led companies operate, the numbers are striking. Turnover growth hit 20.5% – more than double the rate for male-led companies. And female-led companies here are more likely to hold external capital than the UK average, with 37.5% of angel investors being female against a UK average of 32.8%.

The foundation is strong. The pipeline is not up to scratch.

Build the start-up base. Strengthen scale-up routes. The performance data shows what is possible when female-led companies get the conditions to grow.

22/05/2026

Scotland's data deserves attention.

Female-led companies are 17.0% of active companies, below the UK average. Among high-growth companies, that share falls to just 11.6%, the lowest of any UK nation.

Female-led companies still outperformed male-led on turnover growth in 2025. But the gap has narrowed, and access to external capital has declined.

Scotland has ecosystem momentum. Accelerators, networks, policy intent. But momentum without conversion is not progress.

More women are starting. Fewer are scaling. Fewer still are securing the finance to grow. That gap is where intervention needs to land.

Read more in the 2026 report: https://thegenderindex.co.uk/reports

20/05/2026

Wales is outgrowing its representation gap.

Wales has 17.1% female-led active companies, below the UK average. Yet on almost every growth measure, it outperforms.

Highest proportion of female-led high-growth companies across the UK nations: 16.3%

- Lowest female-led dissolution rate in the UK: 16.8%
- Female-led turnover growth of 25.0% in 2025. Ahead of both male-led and mixed-led companies

This is not a representation story. It is a performance story.

The missing piece is capital. External investment has improved but still lags the UK average. The growth is there. Finance needs to reach it.

15/05/2026

England's female-led businesses are performing. The system needs to catch up.

18.1% of active companies in England are female-led. Down from 18.4% in 2024.

London, the South East and South West lead on representation. The North East and London show the strongest turnover growth among female-led companies.

Performance is not holding women back. Access is. Scale is. Bias is.

England has the largest base of female-led businesses in the UK. The question is what it does with them.

The data points to where action is needed. Now policy and capital need to follow.

Read the full report: https://thegenderindex.co.uk/reports

13/05/2026

Over the coming weeks, we're going into the regional data, nation by nation, number by number.

England. Wales. Scotland. Northern Ireland. Each tells a different story. All of them matter.

Follow along!

06/05/2026

Pipeline visibility, not pipeline absence.

Female-led businesses are already building, growing and scaling. The issue is whether investors, funders and decision-makers are looking hard enough in the right places.

The data is clear. The founders are there. The opportunity is there.

29/04/2026

Female-led companies are not underperforming.
They are underfunded.

In 2025:
• 12.1% of female-led companies secured external capital
• 18.5% of male-led companies did
• 17.2% of mixed-led companies did

When access is uneven, so is growth.

If we want to increase the number of high-growth companies in the UK, funding allocation needs to reflect performance not bias.

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