Fund Her North facilitates investment into female led businesses worth over £4.2m in first year

Fund Her North has supported six female-founded businesses facilitating investment worth more than £4.2m in its first year.

Fund Her North is a volunteer collective of over 28 women in VC's, funding organisations and angel groups with a combined investment power of more than £450m in the North. It is led by Helen Oldham, founding board director of NorthInvest.

The steering group also includes Jess Jackson, head of investment at GC Angels; Charlotte Ashton, founding director of Implicit Advisory; Samantha Piddington, head of corporate finance at Deepbridge Capital; Jordan Dargue, board director at NorthInvest and founding director of Dargue Associates; and Chi-chi Ekweozor, entrepreneur and founder of Assenty Ltd.

Following its launch in October 2020, Fund Her North has facilitated investment worth more than £4.2m for six Northern businesses – Umii, Supplywell, Green Bean, K9 Nation, Settl'd and Culture Shift.

The organisation has built a network of more than 100 members and a 25-strong women's angel syndicate since its launch.

Helen Oldham, co-founder of Fund Her North and founding board director of North Invest, said: "As we reflect on a year since launching Fund Her North, we are incredibly proud of all that we have achieved. Not only have we been able to significantly support seven promising, female-founded businesses, we are also seeing our community of female entrepreneurs and investors expanding, with a joint mission to instigate change in the industry.

"Our initial work has mainly concentrated on market driven early-stage investment and we plan to make a more significant impact in supporting later stage businesses in Year 2.

"However, we know that there is still a long way to go, and it will be the next few years which truly make a difference. We'll be working harder than ever to bring more people to our network – both male and female – and driving the conversation around gender equality in the investment landscape.

"We are aware of the gaps in the market and the challenges being faced by female entrepreneurs across the region – our focus is on using our unique expertise to address this and continuing to grow our team of full-time staff to make this possible."

In July 2021, Fund Her North announced a partnership with NatWest to support the enterprise and investment ambitions of entrepreneurial women across the North.

To find out more out Fund Her North, please visit their website: www.fundhernorth.com