Research published by Young Company Finance (YCF) last month, barely a week after we marked International Women’s Day, raises serious concerns for female entrepreneurs in Scotland. The study found that investment into female-founded businesses actually fell from an already low base compared to male-led businesses in 2023 with the median amount raised by women per investment round less than a quarter of what their male counterparts had secured. These grim findings come despite the huge efforts of groups including AccelerateHER and its sister organisation, Investing Women Angels, along with the ..read more

AccelerateHER, CivTech, CodeBase, Deloitte, Eos Advisory, Scottish EDGE, and Scottish National Investment Bank commit to actions aligned with the principles set out in Ana Stewart’s Pathways report  Pathways Forward has launched its Pledge initiative with leading organisations committing to actionable steps aligned with the principles set out in the Pathways report, with their performance measured over a 12-month period.    AccelerateHER, CivTech, CodeBase, Deloitte, Eos Advisory, Scottish EDGE, and the Scottish National Investment Bank are the first members of Pathways Ple ..read more

Carcinotech has raised £4.2 million of funding as the company looks to build on its traction in the UK and Europe, with US expansion planned later this year. Carcinotech’s Carcino3D technology enables the manufacture of 3D printed micro-tumours using cells derived from patient biopsies and blood samples to precisely simulate the tumour microenvironment thereby accelerating ethical drug screening and the delivery of more effective cancer treatments to market. Ishani Malhotra, CEO and Founder of Carcinotech, said: “Our vision is to be at the forefront of cancer drug testing and provide personali ..read more

What a win for our Investing Women Angel Investor! Hearty congratulations from the whole Investing Women Angels Team and the entrepreneurial, startup, and scale up business and investor communities.   Our Colleague, Dr Poonam Malik, was successful in winning the highly prestigious Award of ‘Women of the Year’ at the 16th Scottish Asian & Business Awards 2023 organised by Oceanic Consulting, in Glasgow.   Dr Malik received the Award for her contributions to Entrepreneurship, Investment, Innovation and making an inspiring difference to the commercialisation success of com ..read more

Investing Women Angels (IWA), Scotland’s first all-female angel investment syndicate, has led a circa £200K equity investment round into merchandise technology platform developers Terrible*. Terrible is a UK-based, full-service supply chain company which supports musical artists as well as video gaming, comedy and other creative industries in the UK, Europe and the US. The company creates, sources and delivers uniquely-designed, sustainably-produced merchandise relevant to their clients’ audiences which is sold both online and in-person at concerts and events internationally. Using specially-d ..read more

The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE), Scotland’s National Academy, has announced its 2023 intake of Fellows, with 91 names from business, science, arts, sports, civil society and academia from Scotland and beyond. The RSE’s current Fellowship of around 1,800 Fellows include some of the greatest thinkers, researchers and practitioners working in or with Scotland today, and this year’s cohort recognises the outstanding contribution from leading minds in business. Robin Watson CBE, former chief executive of Wood Plc, the Scottish multinational engineering and consultancy company, was awarded ..read more

Today we mark International Women’s Day (IWD), an annual event which highlights key issues including gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against women. This year’s IWD sits under the theme ‘DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality,’ focusing on how to further empower women through technological change and education. This theme also sits at the heart of the recently published Pathways: A New Approach for Women in Entrepreneurship report, co-written by successful entrepreneur Ana Stewart and Scotland’s Chief Entrepreneur, Mark Logan. It was a privilege for ..read more

A leading figure from the global startup business community will meet with Scottish female founders and business angels at an event being hosted by Investing Women Angels next week. Ken Valledy, an international business adviser, entrepreneur, and co-author of The Startup Lexicon: Demystifying the Everyday Language of Startups, will address the audience next Thursday, 19 January.    Mr Valledy spent two decades with leading companies including Whitbread, Tesco, and Anheuser-Busch InBev in global strategic branding roles. He has also served as a mentor to a number of internationa ..read more

AccelerateHER, Scotland’s dynamic network for female-founders and Investing Women Angels' sister company, has appointed Elizabeth Pirrie as its new CEO. The Scottish-based organisation, which empowers UK female-founded businesses to scale for growth, has made the new appointment amid UK-wide expansion of both its team and operations. Founder and current CEO, Jackie Waring, will now become AccelerateHER’s Chair, where she will focus on launching a new fund for female-founded companies in Scotland. She will also continue to work alongside Elizabeth on the ongoing strategic growth of the organisa ..read more

Scottish entrepreneur and investor Ana Stewart will chair the Scottish Government-commissioned Women in Enterprise Review. Co-authored by Mark Logan, who wrote the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review in 2020, it will focus on areas including education, access to finance, support and mentoring for women in business. Stewart said: “We have set out to examine current conditions, and to then make recommendations on any perceived gender gap in business ownership and opportunity in Scotland. “The report will recommend short, medium and longer term interventions aimed at helping to address ..read more