Greater than a 3rd of the UK’s fastest-growing expertise scale-ups haven’t any board-level feminine illustration – and but some pioneering firms are exhibiting a special path, backed by thousands and thousands and led by ladies.

In accordance with the latest report from international progress consultancy Assume & Develop, although 94% of UK board members in high-growth tech firms consider that numerous boards are important, ladies maintain simply 18% of board roles throughout the UK’s fastest-growing tech scale-ups, and 36% of these firms haven’t any board-level feminine illustration in any respect.

The discrepancy spotlights a rising stress between aspiration and execution.

The numbers

The report, Breaking and Remaking the Subsequent Era of Excessive-impact Boards, factors out that the scale-up ecosystem has but to meet up with listed firms: in contrast, ladies make up 41% of board administrators throughout FTSE 350 expertise companies – greater than double the extent seen inside early-stage companies.

The information goes additional: ladies maintain solely 12% of CEO, founder or co-founder roles and 12% of chair roles on the UK’s fastest-growing tech firms – similar proportions to the bigger listed expertise companies. However in these bigger companies different senior roles held by ladies (COO, CFO, senior impartial director) are extra prevalent – 72% of such companies have ladies in these senior board roles, and ladies maintain 28% of senior board positions total.

Maybe most telling is the correlation between income dimension and board gender range.

Among the many UK’s fastest-growing tech firms with greater than €56.9 million (£50 million) annual income, feminine board illustration averages 22%; amongst these under that threshold it’s simply 15%. At FTSE 350 tech companies with income above €569 million (£500 million) the determine rises to 42% versus 37% at companies under that stage.

There are indicators of progress: scale-ups based throughout the final 5 years maintain on common 25% feminine board illustration, in comparison with simply 10% amongst these based greater than 5 years in the past – which means that newer firms could also be extra attuned to range.

As Jonathan Jeffries, CEO and co-founder of Assume & Develop, says: “There’s a clear correlation between numerous boards and robust company efficiency – but many UK tech firms are failing to nominate board members with numerous backgrounds and experience which dangers curbing progress.”

The businesses main the cost

Whereas the numbers paint a sobering image of the UK tech scale-up ecosystem, a handful of UK start-ups led or co-led by ladies present how completely different fashions would possibly carry each business success and management range.

Beneath we examine 5 such firms – drawn from EU-Startups protection – and discover how their management, sector focus and capital raises stack up towards the broader ecosystem’s range problem.

SheMed (London-based HealthTech)

SheMed is a female-founded ladies’s healthcare platform within the UK. The corporate raised €43 million in October 2025 to increase its personalised healthcare platform and membership base (60,000+ members) within the UK. The corporate is boosting its expertise and scientific infrastructure and is clearly positioned within the FemTech house – a distinct segment that is still under-invested and under-governed in broader tech board statistics.

Within the context of the Assume & Develop report: SheMed’s vital funding increase and female-leadership standing underscore how an organization in a female-centric trade can mix scale ambitions and management range – providing a distinction with many scale-ups missing board feminine illustration.

Hormona (London-based HealthTech)

One other UK ladies’s well being expertise startup, Hormona raised €7.8 million in Could 2025 to construct its at-home hormone-tracking platform utilizing AI. Once more, it is a female-led enterprise  within the FemTech subject – exhibiting that funding is flowing into female-leader ventures at the same time as board illustration total lags.

Match Collective (London-based FashionTech)

Match Collective is a fashion-technology startup based by Savile Row-trained designer Phoebe Gormley (solo feminine Founder). In November 2025 the corporate raised €3.4 million, reportedly the UK’s largest ever spherical by a solo feminine founder.

Whereas not strictly a tech scale-up within the sense of enterprise or DeepTech, it sits on the intersection of expertise (AI, match analytics), entrepreneurship and feminine management. Match Collective’s success additional underscores that female-led startups can appeal to vital funding rounds when the proposition is powerful and differentiated.

Unfabled (London-based eCommerce/Well being Retail)

Based “by ladies for ladies“, Unfabled raised €3 million in October 2025 to gas its community-driven well being and wellness retail platform. The corporate faucets into curated and data-backed buying tailor-made to ladies’s well being wants.

That is one other standout within the FemTech and wellness commerce house, working in a manner that centres on community-led innovation – a mannequin usually lacking within the broader tech ecosystem however important for inclusivity and broader shopper illustration.

Atomik AM (Liverpool-based Superior Manufacturing / Deep Tech)

Atomik AM, based in 2022 by Professor Kate Black, is a sophisticated manufacturing enterprise targeted on sustainable supplies and patented applied sciences for turnkey manufacturing processes. It raised €713k in Could 2025 from the Northern Powerhouse Funding Fund II.

This instance is especially fascinating: an industrial/engineering-tech agency with feminine management in a sector that historically sees fewer ladies. It means that range at founding stage can lengthen past the patron or ladies’s well being areas into DeepTech.

How do these examples examine with the broader ecosystem findings?

The Assume & Develop information recommend that many fast-growing tech firms are lacking the chance that board gender range gives – boards with greater feminine illustration are correlated with stronger efficiency, broader views and improved tradition.

The truth that newer scale-ups (based throughout the final 5 years) have on common 25% feminine board illustration (versus 10% for older ones) is encouraging. Nonetheless, 18% feminine board illustration throughout the fastest-growing tech scale-ups remains to be very low.

In distinction, the 5 UK start-ups above share just a few frequent threads: feminine management (founder/CEO), sector relevance (HealthTech, FashionTech, DeepTech), and up to date capital raises.

They present that female-led firms can and are scaling, attracting funding, and driving innovation. However board illustration is barely a part of the image: the report highlights that boards should transcend token feminine presence to combine ladies in management roles (CEO, chair, COO, CFO) and throughout governance buildings to drive impression.

One of many report’s key messages is that enhancing range is not simply a social accountability – it’s seemingly a strategic benefit. Within the phrases of Jeffries: ““Most senior choice makers at UK tech firms recognise the significance of board-level range however many scale-up firms are failing to leverage the alternatives this brings.

“Enhancing range is not only a social accountability for organisations, it’s a strategic benefit which may enhance downside fixing, scale back danger and usher in new views to assist determine challenges and alternatives to realize a aggressive edge.”

By showcasing female-led startups which can be already performing – SheMed scaling membership and scientific infrastructure; Hormona getting into hormone-tracking; Match Collective capturing funding as a solo feminine founder; Unfabled mixing group and commerce; Atomik AM innovating in superior manufacturing – we are able to see sensible illustrations of what robust management range seems to be like in motion.

Key take-aways for founders, traders and boards

• The information present that feminine board illustration lags in lots of scale-ups, and there’s a revenue-linked uplift in range at bigger companies. Scale-ups subsequently must embed numerous governance earlier.

• These 5 start-ups exhibit that feminine management is appropriate with scaling and funding: this undermines any notion that board range is incompatible with progress.

• Buyers ought to recognise that backing female-led firms just isn’t a “range add-on” however a part of accessing under-served markets, novel enterprise fashions, and management views.

• Founders searching for board composition ought to contemplate range from day one – as Jeffries states: “Founders who prioritise inclusion early can construct boards that see round corners, clear up issues quicker, and perceive a broader vary of markets and folks.”

• Boards and governance buildings in scale-ups ought to mirror the educational from bigger companies: that feminine illustration in senior roles (COO, CFO, senior impartial director) issues alongside the CEO and chair.

In sum: the headline figures are stark – 36% of the fastest-growing UK tech scale-ups haven’t any ladies at board stage; solely 18% of board seats are held by ladies. However the examples of SheMed, Hormona, Match Collective, Unfabled and Atomik AM present that female-led tech companies are already making waves.

The problem for the broader ecosystem is popping these particular person successes into systemic norms – requiring a concerted push from founders, boards, traders and coverage alike.