£12.5M UK fund looking to back female entrepreneurs

Funding opportunity

The £12.5 million UK government-backed Capital for Enterprise Aspire Fund is looking for businesses led by women to pitch for venture capital funding.

Since it was established in 2008, a number of investments have been successfully completed and more proposals are undergoing due diligence. The fund is now making a renewed appeal for female entrepreneurs to apply for funding.

The Fund can invest between £100,000 and £1 million in women-led businesses which have high growth potential, providing up to 50 per cent of the capital in a funding round, alongside other new private investors on a co-investment basis.

The objective of the fund is to increase the number of successful women-led businesses within the UK, where only 15 per cent of businesses are currently led by women,

The fund notes that if British women matched US levels of female entrepreneurship, there would be 900,000 more businesses in the UK. While if women started businesses as the same rate as men, there would be 150,000 more start-ups each year in the UK.

Fran Crawford, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Altacor, a recipient of Aspire investment, says, “The global downturn affected Altacor at the exact moment that we were ready to build on the successful launch of [our] Clinitas ophthalmic eyedrop products in the UK. At that time, the investment climate became very slow with many funders supporting their own portfolio companies and committing minimally to new investments. However, following the identification of a lead investor and the support of our current shareholder base, the participation of the Aspire Fund [helped] in closing the round.”

For more information, visit the website of the Aspire Fund: http://www.capitalforenterprise.gov.uk