Let's Fund More Women

We are growing! The momentum of the movement is undeniable.   Let's Fund More Women is a full-blown community championing government grant funding for entrepreneurs. ”Stronger together” is our motto. Data is our guide. We have 1,000+ members across the Top 100 women in business networks.   Here’s what’s happening right now:   On LinkedIn, new members and allies join daily, ready to share insights, amplify our collective voice, follow, or lend skills and expertise.   At the investHER-UK meeting at the Houses of Parliament just 3 weeks ago, MPs including Dame Caroline Dinenage MP DBE, Peter Kyle and Samantha Niblett MP, pledged their support for giving women innovators better access to government grants.   Conversation has turned to action.   The Innovate UK Round Tables (at which the Let's Fund More Women data team has been presenting powerful insights from our own community) are well underway now, enabling opinions to be heard and experiences to be shared. The findings from these will be available in the New Year, and we are ready to make sure they translate into real change.   So what progress are we looking for? What does success look like? These are the 3 things that the LFMW community most want:   1. A Larger Slice More government funds for women innovators. Talent and commercial potential are available in spades! As evidenced by the multitude of high-scoring but unfunded applications.   2. Easier Access. An application process that minimises the drain of time and energy from running our businesses. Because like it or not, most grant applicants will remain unfunded, so anything that encourages applications without putting daily operations on hold is welcome.   3. Inclusivity in Assessment Everyone - no matter their founder background or the sector they are innovating in - should have their project assessed by a knowledgeable relevant assessor, giving all a fair shot at success.   We want to see a noticeable shift of the dial in all 3 of these parameters.   So let’s keep spreading the word, and campaigning for the change, and communicating the change that we want to see.

This week the Let's Fund More Women (LFMW) team were at the House of Commons actively supporting Dr Lorna Treanor FRSA as she launched “The Charter for Inclusive Entrepreneurship”. This is a superb initiative. It sets out the principles by which #DEI can be ingrained within our daily operations within the entrepreneurial community. This is vital if we are to innovate, create jobs and economic growth at a faster pace than we have historically. In the coming week, we will share more about The Charter, how you can get involved, and how you can benefit from it too. We’d like to thank Samantha Niblett MP for being such a great champion of underrepresented founders in general, and the LFMW purpose in particular. If you have any questions, do ask! Bridget Greenwood Ingrid Murray Dr Shazia Hyatt and Carla Ottersen represented the team at the event.

We just had to share this news with you all. One of the Let's Fund More Women team has been awarded an MBE. How exciting is that?! Please join in and congratulate Zandra Moore MBE. Well done Zandra. Richly deserved.

💫 Roundtable Reflections and Gratitude 💫 As the year draws to a close, it’s time to celebrate the incredible progress we’ve made together. Over the past weeks, LFMW has partnered with Innovate UK for a series of Women in Innovation roundtables. These sessions have been filled with inspiring discussions, bold recommendations, and genuine commitment from everyone involved. Together, we tackled the big question: how do we build a better funding ecosystem for women innovators? Here’s what we’ve achieved so far… 1️⃣ Elevating Our Goals We outlined three key outcomes to work toward: ➡ A 50% share of Innovate UK’s £1 billion grant pot allocated to women-led innovations, with a commitment to publishing DEI metrics post-award. ➡ Streamlined application processes, reducing the time and cost for applicants to free up their focus for innovation. ➡ Fairer assessment practices, ensuring transparency, equity, and an improved process for assessors to evaluate diverse perspectives. 2️⃣ Creating Space for Honest Conversations Through these roundtables, we’ve brought together founders, ecosystem leaders, and Innovate UK senior leadership to share real stories, challenges, and solutions. From the time-consuming grant applications to more systemic support needed for scaling innovation, we’ve identified clear areas for change. 3️⃣ Shaping the Narrative Our recommendations—based on robust data and insights—are designed to build a process that evaluates genuine innovation accurately. These improvements will help Innovate UK fund the most promising projects, drive impactful outcomes, and maximise the return on investment across all programmes. 4️⃣ Moving Beyond the Room As Priya Guha powerfully stated, the conversation needs to expand beyond roundtable discussions and into boardrooms where systemic change can happen. This is our opportunity to ensure Innovate UK and other key players in the ecosystem take meaningful action. 🎉 Celebrating Our Community None of this would have been possible without the extraordinary efforts of our LFMW community. From presenting insights and data to driving bold conversations, your dedication has been nothing short of inspiring. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who contributed your time, energy, and expertise. 🔮 Looking Ahead While there is much work to be done, 2025 promises to be a year of transformation. Together, we’ve laid the groundwork for radical change, and we’re excited to see what we can achieve as we continue to advocate for a funding system that reflects the brilliance and diversity of women innovators. The Innovate UK team will be feeding back their initial thoughts and next steps in the new year, and we’ll keep our community informed about what comes next. For now, let’s take a moment to pause and reflect on what we’ve accomplished. Wishing you all a wonderful and well-deserved festive break—see you in the new year! #LFMW #WomenInInnovation #FundingChange #CommunityImpact

Ready to join the team? Be part of history? One person alone can peck at the cracks. But when we work together, pooling our ideas, determination, work ethic and focus, in a team-first, purpose-first action plan, we can achieve great things! We want to see reform in the government grant system for all entrepreneurs, but particularly the underrepresented ones. That means women. Women of all kinds. We’re talking about changing a system that doesn’t reflect modern day operations. Women are bloody good innovators. They are just as likely to have a commercial innovation as any man. Men indulge in hobbyist innovations just as much as women indulge in social good innovations. Swathes of both produce ideas with very strong potential to deliver National GDP. Our motto is “Stronger Together”. Together, we’re more than the sum of our parts. Together, we can press for a world where everyone’s innovations get the government grant funding they deserve. Who’s on the team already? Let's Fund More Women was founded by Emma Abbasi, Becky Lodge, Mel Bound, Zandra Moore and Tara Attfield-Tomes. Within 24 hours, leading voices joined to champion the cause, Bridget Greenwood and Ingrid Murray from the wider startup funding ecosystem; Dr Shazia Hyatt from the intersecton of academia and business and Dr Lorna Treanor FRSA representing the huge Small Business Enterprise economy. From there, membership has boomed. With lots of people contributing in many ways, which are recognised - if not here, then in other posts and comments, and posts to come. If you want to see reform of the government grant system too, either because you are an entrepreneur, or you know someone who is: Join this team! Together we can make it happen. Add your voice. Voice the change you want to see. #teamwork #funding #innovation

It’s Day 13 of our Christmas Countdown with Just Like Me & MIXD Reality! Today, we’re shining a light on Carla Ottersen, founder of marketing consultancy Hot Shoe Media and Head of Marketing for Silent Sensors Ltd, a women-led engineering company. Carla is a champion for female founders, helping women-led start-ups and early-growth companies master the essentials—creating strong business plans, pitches, budgets, project strategies, investor proposals, and grant applications. She’s also a proud member of Let's Fund More Women, supporting female entrepreneurs to thrive. With years of experience as a regional director for national and global companies and now as a consultant, Carla is dedicated to building strong foundations for business success. 🎁 Christmas Wish: Help support Carla’s exciting new startup focused on hospitality that will launch in the new year. 📣 Founder Shout-Out: A special shout-out to Catherine Ann Reid, founder of doqit, which keeps all your essential documents in one place, and also our very own founder, Tara Attfield-Tomes! #ChristmasCountdown #FemaleFounders #WestMidlands

We are growing! The momentum of the movement is undeniable.   Let's Fund More Women is a full-blown community championing government grant funding for entrepreneurs. ”Stronger together” is our motto. Data is our guide. We have 1,000+ members across the Top 100 women in business networks.   Here’s what’s happening right now:   On LinkedIn, new members and allies join daily, ready to share insights, amplify our collective voice, follow, or lend skills and expertise.   At the investHER-UK meeting at the Houses of Parliament just 3 weeks ago, MPs including Dame Caroline Dinenage MP DBE, Peter Kyle and Samantha Niblett MP, pledged their support for giving women innovators better access to government grants.   Conversation has turned to action.   The Innovate UK Round Tables (at which the Let's Fund More Women data team has been presenting powerful insights from our own community) are well underway now, enabling opinions to be heard and experiences to be shared. The findings from these will be available in the New Year, and we are ready to make sure they translate into real change.   So what progress are we looking for? What does success look like? These are the 3 things that the LFMW community most want:   1. A Larger Slice More government funds for women innovators. Talent and commercial potential are available in spades! As evidenced by the multitude of high-scoring but unfunded applications.   2. Easier Access. An application process that minimises the drain of time and energy from running our businesses. Because like it or not, most grant applicants will remain unfunded, so anything that encourages applications without putting daily operations on hold is welcome.   3. Inclusivity in Assessment Everyone - no matter their founder background or the sector they are innovating in - should have their project assessed by a knowledgeable relevant assessor, giving all a fair shot at success.   We want to see a noticeable shift of the dial in all 3 of these parameters.   So let’s keep spreading the word, and campaigning for the change, and communicating the change that we want to see.

I am beyond words in thanks for being part of this wonderful, amazing, unique network of female founders Let's Fund More Women. It has been an immense honor to represent so many of us at this key event with Innovate UK in London. I truly hope I did you all proud, and that substantive good things will come of this. Zandra Moore and Joulie Gindi (MSc) - you aced this!