Diverse Founders in Advanced Digital Technology

Key findings

In partnership with Digital Catapult, we delve into the state of founder diversity in the UK tech ecosystem. This report explores diversity trends across five vital digital technologies: AI and ML, Immersive tech, Future Networks, Distributed Systems, and Quantum. We have assessed investment trends by gender, ethnicity, educational background, and age across all five areas.

Our research reveals that in 2022, over 70% of total equity investment across all five digital technology areas was secured by all-male founded companies. Further analysis shows that access to funding for ethnic minority founders has improved significantly in some technology areas whereas in other industries, this remains limited. For instance, companies with a Black founder secured less than 0.1% of the total equity investment raised by Quantum companies in 2022.

Find out more and read insights from ecosystem spotlight partners in our free report.

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Inside the report

Diverse Founders — UKBAA ecosystem spotlight (Jenny Tooth)

Diverse Founders — Future networks: investment by ethnicity

About the authors

Henry Whorwood
Managing Director
Henry leads our Beauhurst Insights team, and is an expert on equity finance and high-growth business. He's worked on briefs for the likes of Barclays, SyndicateRoom, Innovate UK, Smith & Williamson and British Business Bank. He regularly gives presentations on market trends at events around the UK.
Daniel Robinson
Senior Research Manager
Daniel conducts data manipulation and analysis as part of the Research & Consultancy team. He has a background in business analysis and commercial copywriting in Australia and the UK, having worked at The Sunday Times Fast Track, Oxford University Press, and advertising network MullenLowe Group.
Freya Hyde
Senior Designer
Freya performs data visualisation and graphic design in the Research & Consultancy team. She has worked on projects for clients including Barclays, EY and JP Morgan. Freya holds a BA in History (International) from the University of Leeds, which included a year at Fudan University in Shanghai.
Advone Katsande
Graduate Associate
Advone writes copy, and performs data analysis and visualisation. She has written on the nature of Venture Capital Trusts, and worked on projects for Rawnet and Deloitte. She read Law at the University of East Anglia, where she acquired her undergraduate LLB.
Blanca Valencia
Graduate Associate
Blanca handles data analysis and visualisation, as well as copywriting. Prior to joining Beauhurst, Blanca graduated from Queen Mary University of London, where she was awarded a BSc in Computer Science with Management (ITMB).
Ethan Yip
Data analyst and visualisation specialist
Ethan carries out data analysis and visualisation. Before joining Beauhurst, Ethan graduated from the University of Bath, where he was awarded the degree of Master of Chemistry (MChem) and spent a year studying at the National University of Singapore.