UK’s Invest in Women Taskforce secured 2.5× its £250M target. Why has only 18% been deployed after two years?

The Taskforce has deployed £115M of its £635M in commitments across 22 investments.

Since launching in 2024, the initiative has secured £635 million in capital commitments, more than 2.5 times its original £250 million ambition.

Recent investments by BGF and Bootstrap 4F signal that capital is beginning to flow into the wider venture ecosystem after the fundraising phase.

The Invest in Women Taskforce has now deployed more than £115 million into women-led and mixed-led fund managers and businesses across 22 investments.

Since launching in 2024, the government-backed initiative, supported by His Majesty’s Treasury and the Department for Business and Trade, has secured £635 million in capital commitments, more than 2.5 times its original £250 million target. Yet only around 18% of that has been deployed so far.

At first glance, the gap raises an obvious question: where is the rest of the money?

The answer says as much about how institutional venture capital works as it does about efforts to increase funding for women entrepreneurs.

Unlike traditional grant programmes, the Taskforce doesn’t invest directly into startups. Instead, institutional investors commit capital to a broader funding pool, which is then allocated to specialist fund managers.

Those managers deploy capital gradually over several years as they identify opportunities, complete due diligence, and build portfolios, which means commitments typically move more slowly than headline fundraising figures suggest.

The latest deployment reflects that shift from fundraising to investing. Following recent commitments by BGF and Bootstrap 4F, the Taskforce has now channelled more than £115 million across 22 deals, including investments into Seedcamp VII LP, Seedcamp Nation II LP, Evertrue Capital I LP, and adventure travel company Wild Frontiers. Further deals are already in the pipeline.

It is the same funding pool that anchored Bootstrap 4F’s £130 million first close for the Women Backing Women fund of funds in March, backed by Barclays, Nationwide, the British Business Bank, and M&G. BGF, meanwhile, has been deploying against its own £300 million pledge to female-led businesses, part of a wider £3 billion commitment to British innovation.

Closing one of Britain’s biggest funding gaps

Female-founded businesses continue to receive only a small share of UK venture capital despite consistently strong commercial performance. Wosskow CBE put a number on the imbalance in an earlier interview with Tech Funding News: out of £18 billion in UK equity investment in 2025, fully female-founded teams received just 1.75%.

The Taskforce was set up to tackle that by increasing the number of women fund managers allocating capital, rather than focusing solely on founders. It sits alongside a broader push from institutions such as the British Business Bank, which has committed £400 million toward diversifying who writes the cheques across UK venture capital.

“Surpassing £100 million in deployment shows this is no longer a conversation about intent — it is proof that capital is actively reaching women investors and founders,” says Hannah Bernard CBE, co-chair of the Invest in Women Taskforce.

“The commercial case has never been clearer: back women or miss out on enormous return potential for investors and the UK economy,” adds Debbie Wosskow CBE, co-chair, Invest in Women Taskforce.

The real test starts now

Crossing £100 million in deployed capital marks an important milestone, but it is unlikely to be the measure that ultimately defines the Taskforce’s success. The bigger challenge is turning £635 million of commitments into investments that produce both financial returns and lasting structural change across Britain’s venture ecosystem.

If deployment continues to accelerate, the initiative could become one of the UK’s most significant interventions in venture capital diversity. If not, attention will shift from how much has been pledged to how quickly it reaches the founders and fund managers it was built to support.