UK-Based, Women-Founded Tech Startups Raised $4.3 Billion in 2022

United Kingdom-based tech startups with women founders or co-founders are gaining more investment.

Such startups raised £3.6 billion (about $4.3 billion) in 2022, up from £2.9 billion (about $3.4 billion) in 2021, according to data from Dealroom analyzed for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and included in a press release emailed to PYMNTS.

“I want the U.K. to be the best place for anyone — male or female — to start and grow a tech business, so it’s brilliant to see female-founded firms attracting more investment than ever before,” Tech Secretary Michelle Donelan said in the release.

In 2022, eight companies with women founders or co-founders raised $100 million or more in funding rounds, according to the press release.

A FinTech topped the list as FNZ raised $1.4 billion, the release said.

Four other FinTechs earned a place in the top 10 in terms of funding rounds, with Lendable ranked third with $252 million, Starling Bank ranked fifth with $157 million, 5ire ranked eighth with $100 million and Cleo ranked 10th with $80 million, per the release.

The U.K. government has started several initiatives to support diversity in the tech sector, according to the press release.

These include supporting an industry-led group called the Tech Talent Charter that brings organizations together to improve diversity and inclusion, investments in scholarships and courses that encourage women to consider a career in tech, and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology working with Colorintech to develop a toolkit to help digital businesses create more inclusive workplaces, the release said.

“Together with industry leaders, my brand-new department will work hard to create the right environment for inspirational women to forge careers in the U.K.’s thriving tech industry and help it reach new heights,” Donelan said in the release.

This news comes two days after the British government announced that it is investing £370 million (about $446 million) to support “future industries.”

The new Science and Technology Framework provides government funding to improve infrastructure, investment and skills needed for growing technologies, ranging from quantum and supercomputing to artificial intelligence (AI), the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said Monday (March 6).