Women Angel Investors 2025: Powering Innovation and Growth in the UK (Investing in Women Taskforce / UKBAA)

Summary

• Women angel investors backed 6,595 companies over a 10-year period, including 2,155 female-founded companies.p.11
• Women make up 14.1% of all angels, yet are responsible for over 30% of investment into female-founded businesses.p.5
• Overall angel investment has remained steady at £1.5 billion between 2019 and 2024, while investment involving women angels fell by 37% and investment from male-only angels increased by 20%.p.6
• 49% of women angels' investments in 2024 went to female-founded companies, compared to just 19% for male-only angel investments.p.6
• Women angels participated in over 40% (41.9%) of investments in female-founded businesses over 2015-H1 2025.p.8
• Women angel-backed companies that went on to secure follow-on investment now employ over 500,000 people and generate £83.8bn in turnover.p.16
• SaaS, mobile apps and online retailing together comprise 3,402 high-growth companies backed by women angel investors.p.18

Key insights

1. The Taskforce set a specific target of increasing the share of women investors in the angel market to 30% by 2030.p.4
2. Women angel participation in female-founded businesses fell from 42.6% in 2019 to 37.2% in 2024.p.9
3. Male angels accounted for 82% of investment in all angel-backed businesses in 2024.p.9
4. The proportion of female-founded companies backed by women angels has increased from 24.8% to 32.6%.p.14
5. Among Investing in Women Code signatories, women investor participation rose from 15% in 2023 to 25% in 2025.p.14
6. In 2024, women angel-backed companies raised £293m.p.15
7. Since 2022, the number of companies backed by women angels has grown across all regions, with the South West up 77% and the North West up 45%.p.17
8. Female-led businesses experienced a 22% decline in angel investment, despite an overall 2% rise across all businesses.p.6