Women led Firms at Incubator SETsquared Bristol raise a record-breaking 45% of the total funds

15 million of the £33 million raised by the 85 businesses in the University of Bristol incubator were raised by women. This shows how dedicated the company is to diversity in the IT sector, as seen by its programs Enterprising Women and Breakthrough Bursary.

SETsquared The healthtech and engineering industries, which accounted for 33% and 36% of total financing, were also especially strong for investment, according to Bristol's latest 2022 impact data.

Women have raised money in several different ways. For instance, the digital eye care startup OKKO secured $2 million in venture capital funding to support the release of its sight monitoring app.

Dr. Stephanie Campbell, co-founder, and CEO of OKKO Health, stated: "Last year was crucial for OKKO Health. Together with securing funding, we expanded to a 20-person team in Bristol and created the foundational technology for the creation of medical AI. Without the support of our SETsquared network, one of whom served as our temporary CTO and another was a crucial board member, we could not have accomplished this”.

Ferryx, a spinoff from the University of Bristol managed by a woman, received an Innovate Fast Start grant and secured £305k in startup money.

"2022 was a tremendous year for Ferryx," said Dr. Jenny Bailey, CEO of the company. "We got our first investment and were able to use these funds to introduce Ferrocalm, a dietary supplement to improve gut health. We would not have advanced as swiftly without the assistance we have gotten via SETsquared Bristol in each of these phases.

Healthtech pioneers Emm and FluoretiQ, metaverse tech startup Condense, the giving platform Neighbourly, and the industry-leading tech interface business Ultraleap were among the other high-level SETsquared Bristol companies to raise capital.

"It's a credit to the entrepreneurialism and tenacity of our women-led enterprises that they are raising more finance than ever before," said Kimberley Brook, Director of SETsquared Bristol. Given that 83% of UK VC investments go to companies without any women on the founding teams, these numbers are fantastic, but there is still work to be done. We'll keep pushing hard to boost support for diverse founders and encourage tech investment.