Unlocking growth for UK business: BTC to press ministers on the major investment reforms needed now
Female-led businesses outperform those led by men but secured just 2.1% of UK venture funding in 2022
In the final session of its inquiry on financing the real economy, the Committee will test, with the responsible ministers, ideas to address the major funding gaps faced by businesses looking to grow in the UK.
Meeting details
Access to finance is one of the leading issues that’s emerged for British business in the BTC roadshows, with particular concerns on finance in the “death-valley” between start-up and generating revenue, and on finance for women-led businesses.
Evidence throughout this inquiry has illustrated the stark barriers to growth faced by female entrepreneurs.
Despite female-led businesses outperforming those led by men, all-female teams secured just 2.1% of UK venture funding in 2022.
For Black women-led businesses, that figure dropped to 0.02%.
All-male founder teams received 80% of UK VC in 2024 and raised £6.5 billion in 2023 alone - more than three times the £2 billion raised by all-female founder teams over the whole last decade.
The Committee will ask a panel of female entrepreneurs and investors facing down these issues what's behind this shocking and destructive disparity, and what creative solutions they’re advancing.
Another key issue that has emerged is aligning capital with regional need and specialties, especially within Local Growth Plans.
Capital is scarcer and more expensive for SMEs across the country, who face regional and sectoral differences in the availability of finance despite forming the backbone of the supply chains key to delivering a nationally co-ordinated industrial strategy.
The Committee will question Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Paul Bristow, and Mayor of South Yorkshire Oliver Coppard on how they’re working with Government and the British Business Bank to overcome the “outside London” funding gap.
To close the hearings for this inquiry, the Minister for Investment, Jason Stockwood and the Minister for Small Business and Economic Transformation Blair McDougall will respond to suggestions for major shakeups in pension fund investing, tax reliefs and Government procurement, to finally unlock the investment UK business needs to grow.
Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP, Chair of the Committee, said: “Britain has the ideas. Britain has the talent. What’s missing is the money. For two centuries our entrepreneurs have made history by inventing the future—but today a growing capital gap is holding them back, and worse, pushing some of our most exciting scale-ups to America.
“If we want faster growth, better jobs and stronger communities, then we must finally fix the finance system that is failing our founders. We must back the pioneers of tomorrow. And we must ensure the wealth they create is built—and multiplies —here at home.”