Clarendon calls for local investors to sign up to Investing in Women Code

Northern Ireland investors must commit to doing more to support female-led businesses and encourage entrepreneurship among women, according to a leading Belfast fund manager.

Clarendon Fund Managers is the first local fund manager to sign up to the Investing in Women Code and is now urging other NI-based investors to join them in committing to support female founders.

The initiative, which is overseen by HM Treasury, involves over 130 institutions across the UK with an investing power of nearly £1 trillion who have made a commitment to improving female entrepreneurs’ access to tools, resources and finance.

Clarendon, which manages the £50m CoFund NI and runs the angel investment network HBAN in NI, has seen an increase in the number of female-led businesses pitching for, and winning, investment.

In the portfolio of 86 companies which have received investment through Co-Fund NI, 16 are led by women (19%) and female founded businesses have received a total of £4.65m in funding, 14% of the total £33.6m invested. In 2021, eight of the 26 companies which received funding (31%) were female founded businesses and they accounted for £1.25m, or 24% of the total £5.1m invested.

Of the 69 companies which pitched at HBAN events since 2019, 14 have been female-led (20%) and companies with female founders account for 12 of the 54 companies that received investment from the network’s business angels (22%). To date 90% of the female-led companies to pitch for investment have been successful, compared with 78% led by men. Female founded businesses account for £1.8m of the total £10.4m in angel investment raised through HBAN Ulster since 2019.

Claudine Owens, from Clarendon FM, says that while those figures are above UK averages, investors in NI need to keep being proactive in encouraging female entrepreneurs: “Four of the six companies pitching at last week’s HBAN business angel event were led by women and in fact in the previous two events at least half of the teams pitching included female founders or co-founders. We’ve been delighted to see a number of businesses with women at the helm securing significant investment from business angels over the past two years, including the likes of The Blinky Company, Gray’s Clip, Esther, Sustain IQ and Easihale.

“However, it’s important that we maintain this momentum and continue to give an underrepresented group of entrepreneurs access to investors, experience of pitching for investment and guidance on what funders are looking for before making an offer. We would love to see the other investors in NI and Ireland committing to the same goals by signing up to the Investing in Women Code too.”

* CFM is a Venture Capital fund manager based in Belfast. Clarendon manage £58.5m of regional VC funds in Northern Ireland including the £47.3m Co-investment Fund. Since 2011, Clarendon has invested in over 80 companies.

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