NEW Visualisations of Diversity in Startups & Scaleups

Diversity fuels growth and innovation–that’s a fact. And in order to spot opportunities for change and improve diversity, we need to be able to report on the current state of play. We’ve previously published research on gender and age diversity in the high-growth space. But now we’ve made it easier than ever for you to replicate this with the Beauhurst platform, and track ongoing progress in different sectors and regions.

We’ve added visualisations of founder, director and C-suite demographics, across every high-growth company in the UK. You can also search across this data, and target companies with a specific gender balance of founders, directors, or senior leadership. 

These new charts and search criteria allow you to:

• Easily visualise gender and age diversity in your region, industry, or even within your portfolio
• Identify opportunities to improve inequalities in your portfolio, by targeting organisations that have a specific gender balance
• Target female-led businesses, with information on grants and support available in your area 
• Measure the economic impact that female-led businesses have had on your region 
• Build target lists for events or diversity and inclusion initiatives 
• Understand how female-led startups have succeeded in traditionally male industries, and create case studies of the most successful companies
• Compare industries by director ages, and see which are attracting younger talent

Here, we explain all of the new graphs, and highlight some hand-picked demographic insights.

Visualising gender diversity across cohorts of companies

The new gender balance chart allows you to understand the makeup of companies you’re looking at through our Advanced Search, Collections, and Explore features. 

For example, you can now easily see that 16.6% of high-growth companies in the North East have an all-female founding team, compared to just 12.6% of those in London. 

Gender balance of high-growth companies in the North East (by founders)

Gender balance of high-growth companies in London (by founders)

You can also zero in on companies backed by a specific fund, to see the gender balance of an individual portfolio. For example, a third of companies publicly backed by angel network Angel Academe have a gender-balanced founding team, whilst over 40% are all female-led. The two businesses within the portfolio that are counted as all-male are where the female founders are no longer active at the company. 

Gender balance of companies that have received announced investment from Angel Academe (by founders)

Meanwhile, the new gender divide chart will show you the gender of founders, directors, and key people at the companies you’re looking at. So you can see that 39.5% of C-suite employees at high-growth companies in the craft industries sector are female, compared to just 17.7% of those in tech.

Gender divide of key people at high-growth companies in the craft industries sector

Gender divide of key people at high-growth companies in the tech sector

Yes, you read that right, less than one in five C-suite employees at high-growth tech companies are female. Meanwhile, 54.9% of those businesses don’t have any women in senior leadership positions, compared to 42.4% of companies operating in craft industries.

Gender balance of high-growth companies in the craft industries sector (by key people)

Gender balance of high-growth companies in the tech sector (by key people)

You can also see the gender breakdown of directors over time, allowing you to track progress. For example, in 2021, 29.3% of directors of high-growth craft industry companies are female, compared with just 20.2% back in 2005.

Gender divide of directors at high-growth craft industry companies

Searching for companies based on the gender balance of their team

On top of all that, we’ve also added new criteria to our Advanced Search tool, that allows you to find companies according to the gender balance of their directors, founders, or key people.

So, if you’re looking to target organisations that have an equal gender founding team, directorships or C-suite, then you can add the gender balance criteria to your search, and specify exactly 50% female. Then, click on any of the results to learn more about the companies, and understand their growth journeys. 

And whether you’re looking to spotlight the company in a case study, or propose a partnership, you can reach out to them using verified contact details for all key people.

Majority female-led businesses are eligible for certain grants and support schemes. If you’re looking to build an awareness campaign for these programmes, then you may also wish to find all the majority female-led companies in your area that meet a certain financial threshold. 

Visualising the age of directors across cohorts of companies

Looking at the age of directors graphs, you can see which industries are popular with young entrepreneurs, and which require directors with a little more experience. 

For example, within the services-on-demand sector, 8.2% of high-growth directors are in their twenties (although this has decreased since 2009), and another 8.2% are over 60. 

Age of directors at high-growth services-on-demand companies

Meanwhile, in the pharmaceuticals sector, which is more closely regulated and requires more experience in order to build a company, just 1% of high-growth founders are in their twenties, whilst 34.7% are over 60.

Age of directors at high-growth pharmaceutical companies

You’ll need access to our Networks add-on in order to use these new features. And with our All Company Data add-on,  you’ll be able to see director demographics across all companies—not just tracked ones. Interested in trying it out? Book a demo in the form below or, if you’re already a subscriber, contact your Account Manager.