For more information about the report, please visit the British Business Bank website.
SFC Capital invests in startups from their very first funding round and across a broad range of sectors including life science, health technology, and climate technologies.
In 2020, SFC Capital became one of the first signatories of the Investing in Women Code and announced their intention to invest in at least 50% of women-led companies from their new cohorts. In 2021, SFC Capital developed a new approach to increase the number of investments in women-led companies by implementing a scoring methodology that standardises their decision-making process. The goal of the system was to evaluate and identify promising startups across a wide range of sectors, from life science to consumer products. The scoring methodology considers over 30 factors, such as the founders’ skills and experience, the market size and potential, and the business’ traction. This approach reduces any unconscious bias when evaluating the founding teams, and concentrates on objective facts: the founders’ competence, how well they complement each other, their personality types and their history of working together.
SFC Capital also gives additional weight to companies showing diversity among founders, including whether there is at least one woman in the founding team. This additional criterion ensures that SFC Capital actively seeks out diverse and inclusive teams with different perspectives and experiences, as these companies are more likely to better understand their target audience, be more innovative and reach a wider market.
Since adopting this methodology, SFC Capital has seen a 25% rise in the number of women-led companies in their recent cohorts, and they are now close to achieving their target of investing in at least 50% of women-led companies. SFC Capital is proud to have invested in some of the most promising women-led technology companies in the UK such as Mevitae, Humanising Autonomy, Emperia, Novai, or Hormona.