Beyond The Billion hosted The Billion Dollar Brew (London Edition), our signature convening, in partnership with Dell Technologies, in The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), London.
This evening brought together trailblazers, investors, and thought leaders to champion and advance women-led innovation. This dynamic gathering sparked catalytic conversations around resilience, diversity, technology, and the future of investment.
Our signature convenings serve the very purpose of delivering actionable insights to all our attendees. From breaking barriers in male-dominated fields to mobilizing capital for women entrepreneurs, our conversations highlighted the collective power of collaboration and forward-thinking strategies. Here’s a closer look at the key takeaways —
Investor Roundtable
Leading the conversation:
London’s Unique Ecosystem and Potential
London is ranked as the top city for women entrepreneurs globally due to its ecosystem fostering innovation. Key factors include a strong public-private partnership, robust talent pool, tax incentives like the Enterprise Investment Scheme(EIS) and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme(SEIS), and a supportive government emphasizing diversity in capital allocation. However, as Anne Ravanona, Founder of Global Invest Her, stated, “Challenges for female founders remain, as only 1.8% of venture capital in the UK goes to female-founded businesses,” highlighting significant room for improvement.
Read more on London Funding Blueprint generated by our Ecosystem Champion, Global Invest Her
Challenges in Aligning Capital with Female-Led Ventures
Despite increasing awareness, systemic barriers persist. These include unconscious biases in investment decisions, limited networks for women, and smaller fund sizes raised by female entrepreneurs, which can deter larger institutional investors (a chicken and egg problem). Additionally, female founders often encounter difficulty accessing wealth controlled by older, more traditional family offices.
Strategic Actions to Overcome Barriers
- Promote Diversity Mandates: Institutional investors to create and adhere to diversity mandates, which encourage the inclusion of diverse fund managers.
- Bias-Free Processes: Implementing frameworks like the Diversity in Action initiative can reduce gender bias in evaluating funds and founders.
- Mentorship Programs: Institutional investors mentoring emerging female fund managers can foster growth and readiness for large-scale funding.
“Removing the unconscious bias that people have about fund managers being men or women requires a clear process. A key tool in addressing this is the Diversity in Action (DIA) Framework developed by the ILPA. The DIA framework integrates mechanisms like the Due Diligence Questionnaire (DDQ), which systematically evaluates funds using both qualitative and quantitative DEI data collection. By incorporating metrics on diversity, representation, and inclusive practices within fund teams, it creates a structured, bias-free approach to assessing fund managers. This transparency fosters a more equitable environment, enabling more women to thrive and succeed as fund managers.” — Alice Tealdi, European Women in VC
Read the latest report by European Women in VC (2024) here.
The Role of Family Offices and Emerging Trends
Family offices hold significant potential in bridging funding gaps due to their flexibility and long-term vision. Collaborations between family offices and women-focused funds are increasing, but trust remains a critical factor, often outweighing metrics like returns. Next-gen family members advocating for purpose-driven investments offer hope for systemic change.
Leveraging Diversity as a Strategic Advantage
London’s diverse cultural and educational landscape positions it as a global hub for innovation. Initiatives like the Invest in Women Taskforce, which has surpassed its initial £250M target of funding for UK-based female-powered businesses through female-led investment managers, exemplify the progress achievable through collective action.
“We believe our approach of putting capital in the hands of female investors will create the generational shift.” Elza Shayakhmetova, Invest in Women Taskforce
These insights underscore London’s potential to become a global leader in supporting women-led innovation, provided systemic biases are addressed and strategies to mobilize diverse forms of capital are effectively implemented.
Founder Panel Key Takeaways
- Women-founded businesses received less than 3% of VC funding in 2023 in the UK. For every £1 raised, just 2 pence went to women-led ventures.
- Wealth Transfer by 2050: £7 trillion will shift generationally in the UK, presenting a significant opportunity to reshape wealth and influence.
- Funding Gap: Female founders raised £763,000 on average compared to £4.7 million for male founders, showcasing a stark disparity in resource allocation.
Panel Discussion Highlights
“LPs hold a valuable opportunity to encourage GPs to foster diversity of thought and innovation. Our Fund of Funds program diversifies by design; by backing emerging managers and first-time funds”
Molten is a leading European venture capital firm with a £1.3m gross portfolio value as of 30th September 2024; known for investing in high-growth technology companies across diverse sectors, with a fund-of-funds as part of its structure. Formerly known as Draper Esprit, the firm rebranded to Molten Ventures in 2021 to reflect its dynamic approach to venture capital. It is publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange, which distinguishes it from many other VC firms. Mohadeseh highlighted the power of institutional capital in addressing structural biases in funding allocations and highlighted the increasing presence of women GPs as a positive trend.
Fatou Diagne, Bootstrap Europe
“Beyond fundraising, success in venture capital should also be measured by how adaptable founders are in exploring diverse funding structures.”
For women entrepreneurs, particularly those operating in underserved or emerging sectors, considering alternatives such as venture debt, revenue-based financing, and strategic partnerships can be transformative.
Rethinking risk involves addressing biases inherent in traditional model. By offering more inclusive funding pathways and innovative financial models, we can support founders who might otherwise be excluded due to systemic barriers or traditional metrics of scalability.
Wiem Gharbi, Ankar AI
“Women must have a stake in shaping the future of cutting-edge industries like AI. And it is incumbent on all of us to use these advancements for the betterment of our society, for positive impact. It’s easy to get lost in incremental problems.”
Wiem Gharbi’s perspective is shaped by her time at Palantir, where she honed her belief that software should tackle hard, systemic problems rather than focus on incremental or superficial applications. Her experience there reinforced the notion that technology’s real potential lies in solving “unsexy problems”—those often overlooked but critical for industries like healthcare, supply chains, and intellectual property.
With Ankar AI backed by Index Ventures, Wiem is advancing this mission by creating tools designed to democratize access to AI-driven solutions, particularly for assessing risks like patent infringement. By providing AI as a service, her team empowers businesses to navigate complex challenges that were traditionally inaccessible to smaller players. This aligns with the broader goal of AI: making high-impact technologies available to all, not just the few.
Ella Jade, Roobba
“Legacy isn’t just about the past; it’s about creating opportunities for the future.”
For Ella Jade, the founder of Roobba, her entrepreneurial journey has been deeply inspired by her father, whose vision as a business leader motivated her to carry forward the spirit of innovation and resilience. Naming her company Roobba—a nod to “spirit of father”; symbolizes not only a tribute to her roots but also her mission to redefine furniture retail through a seamless, affordable, and design-focused experience.
Ella’s fundraising approach has been strategic and methodical. She prioritized traction and proof of concept before aggressively seeking external funding. By focusing on building a robust customer base and refining Roobba’s product-market fit, she demonstrated measurable success that attracted investors with confidence. Her disciplined approach underscores the value of first validating your business and scaling efficiently, rather than rushing into the capital-raising process.
Broader Trends and Takeaways
- Unconscious Bias and Homophily: Persistent systemic barriers limit women’s access to funding networks.
- The Role of Policy: Initiatives like the UK Treasury’s Investing in Women Code (2019) provide pathways for progress but require more robust implementation and adoption.
- Emerging Fields: Women-led innovation in AI and other tech sectors is a critical area for focused investment to close the gender gap.
- The Role of Academia: UK universities were said to be less IP-friendly in research spin-offs as compared to US universities but have a big role to play in advancing innovation. Entrepreneurial clubs should also be encouraged.
This event also discussed pathways for systemic changes through collaboration between investors, founders, and institutional partners like Dell Technologies.
New opportunities highlighted include the RFP from the Investing in Women Taskforce; as below:
“As part of this historic announcement, the Invest in Women Taskforce is calling for proposals from fund managers to manage the ‘Women backing Women’ Fund.
If you are a fund manager who can demonstrably meet the objectives of the Fund, we encourage you to submit your proposal.
All proposals will be assessed using the evaluation criteria set out in the Request for Proposal (RFP) document.
Please send your proposals and any questions that you wish to clarify before submitting a response to IWT at Investinwomentaskforce@barclays.com with subject line ‘’RFP Response: WbW Fund manager selection”
Deadline for queries: 06 December 2024 at 17:00
Deadline for proposals: 23 December 2024 at 15:00
Download the RFP document and the Diversity Questionnaire.”
Tune in to our panel here:
We at Beyond The Billion extend our deepest gratitude to our partners — Dell Technologies, and our incredible Ecosystem Champions: Businettes UK, European Women in VC, Global Invest Her, Diversify, Included VC, Arosa Capital, RUSI NextGen, Sifted, and Financial Alliance for Women.
Our conversations at The Billion Dollar Brew (London Edition) highlighted transformative insights to break barriers for women founders and unlock their unparalleled potential. From fostering resilience to building strategic investor relationships and embracing innovation in AI and blockchain, these discussions centered on actionable strategies to fuel women-led innovation globally.
Follow us as we continue to amplify women’s leadership in entrepreneurship, catalyze capital for female founders, and shape a future where diversity is the key to impact and exceptional returns.
Drive Returns Through Diversity with Us #investinwomen
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Some moments from the event:
In Partnership with Dell Technologies
In Partnership with Dell Technologies
Beyond The Billion— is the world’s first and largest consortium of venture funds pledged to invest over $1Bn into women-founded companies. Beyond the Billion’s (BTB) first pledge campaign was launched as The Billion Dollar Fund for Women in October 2018 with an audacious goal of catalyzing $1 billion into the hands of women founders globally, addressing the gender venture investment gap where women were receiving only 2.2% of all venture capital funding. In under 2 years, $638 million of the first billion pledged was deployed by our partner funds into close to 800 women-founded companies, of which 11 have been recognized as unicorns— from Canva to EverlyWell. To continue to build on this momentum, we launched Beyond The Billion, to catalyze capital deployed to and with these venture funds, ensuring their continued capacity to invest by bridging LPs and GPs, building a community of institutional investors, sovereign funds, IFIs, DFIs, family offices, wealth managers and high net worth individuals; driving the agenda collectively.
