The UK is known for its vibrant entrepreneurial culture and robust economy, and women have played a massive role in this. There has been a remarkable rise in women entrepreneurs over the past few decades, and women-led businesses are an essential part of the UK economy.

Women-led businesses account for a substantial proportion of businesses and contribute significantly to job creation and economic development, however it found that only 16.2% of women-led companies receive no external investment, higher than any other category.

The money.co.uk business loans team has taken a deep dive into the state of women’s entrepreneurship in the UK. This includes the number of self-employed women, the country’s women in business hotspots, and how women-led businesses perform against those founded and managed by men.

• 16.9% of companies receiving no external investment are those run by women, higher than any other category. This suggests that a higher proportion of women-led companies may be self-funded or not receive any external investments.
• Of those that do receive investment, it’s most likely to be in the form of an angel investor. With 12.2% of angel investments feeding into women-led companies.
• However, women-led companies are much more underrepresented when it comes to those being invested in via company (6.8%), venture capital (6.1%) and private equity (4.7%) investment.

• Regarding gender representation, companies led by men dominate, representing 92% (916 out of 1,000) of the total. Comparatively, companies with women CEOs make up only 8% (84 out of 1,000) of these companies.
• Despite the smaller representation, women-led companies show some interesting performance attributes. Women-led companies, on average, have significantly larger revenues, with average revenue of $26 billion, compared to the average revenue of $20 billion reported by companies led by men. However, in the last year, companies led by men saw their revenue increase more than women-led ones, at 19%, compared to 13%.
• In terms of profitability, companies led by men have a slight edge, with average profits of $1.7 billion compared to $1.5 billion for women-led companies. Furthermore, men-led companies showed a substantial average profit change of a third. In comparison, women-led companies demonstrated a considerable decrease in profit change, averaging 61%.
• In terms of assets, women-led companies far outstrip those led by men. On average, women-led companies have assets of $128 billion, compared to those led by men, which have average assets of $55 billion. Lastly, when looking at market value, companies led by men slightly outperformed women-led companies. The average market value for companies led by men is $41 billion, whereas women-led companies have an average market value of $30 billion.