A new women-led business angel group has launched its investment activities, in a bid to close the gender gap in business start-ups.
Mint Ventures has been created in response to research by its partner organisation Women’s Enterprise Scotland, which found that access to finance remains the number one barrier for women starting and scaling their businesses.
Recent research revealed that women start their businesses with 53% less capital than men do, ask for 30% less funding and consequently are often hugely under-capitalised from the outset. Only 14% of all capital raised went to women-led businesses, while less than 15% of the UK’s business angels are women.
Working with the wider angel community in Scotland, Mint Ventures aims to provide a comprehensive educational, development and networking programme for its female members, allowing them to train for six months before they make their first investment.
The 20 founding women members of the group will focus their investments in the critical £50,000 to £250,000 funding gap, investing in under-represented sectors including creative industries, retail and food and drink.
As a core part of the Mint Ventures’ investment thesis, all companies will need to demonstrate a social, ethical or environmental purpose and have clear environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) goals.
Mint Ventures is being supported by LINC Scotland, the UK Business Angels Association, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Par Equity.
Chief executive Gillian Fleming said: “For too long women have been under-represented and under-funded when it comes to early-stage equity investment, so we are on a mission to change that through our educational program to support more women to become angel investors and invest in diverse companies with purpose.
“We want to democratise angel investing and make it more accessible to women from all walks of life - you don’t have to be super wealthy to be an angel investor, our minimum investment ticket size per person is £2,000.”
Paul Atkinson, founder of Par Equity, added: “We recognise that in Scotland we have too few women angel investors and are pleased to partner with Mint Ventures as they build their membership.
“If we want to help women realise their economic potential, we have to challenge the conscious and unconscious biases which result in women-owned businesses not getting access to the business funding they need.”
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