How we can support female entrepreneurs to thrive in deep tech and biotechnology
Dr Liz Fletcher, director of operations and business engagement at the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC)
The biotechnology sector is starting to make some great strides towards achieving gender equality.
A first of its kind sector benchmark report on diversity, equity, and inclusion from the UK BioIndustry Association (BiA) showed women occupy 51% of roles within the sector. However, while it is positive to see that the gender split has finally balanced out, the report highlighted a continued imbalance at C-suite and CEO level.
Although the evidence shows that progress has been made, it’s just as crucial to spotlight the gender-based gaps that continue to persist within the wider science and technology ecosystem. This includes fields like deep tech that will contribute to our progress towards net zero, by offering alternative products and processes.
A report by the Royal Academy of Engineering found that less than 10% of UK deep tech companies are founded solely by women. This new and evolving sector is grounded in engineering and scientific advances, including artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics.
Deep tech has a more pronounced gender disparity than other branches of technology, and studies attribute this, in part, to the historically low proportion of girls studying STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
The complex funding environment also has a significant impact on the success of female founders, who are disproportionately affected by the challenges seen by deep tech and biotech businesses more widely. Over 50% of the UK’s deep tech companies are currently at seed stage, with active scale ups representing less than 6%. This highlights the relatively nascent stage of this sector, and the need to improve access to growth funding – particularly for women entrepreneurs.
According to a report by the Alan Turing Institute, female-founded AI startups in the UK received just 3.9% of venture capital funding from 2011 to 2021. Meanwhile the share of growth finance available to women-led startups, across all sectors, was 10.3% during the same period.
If we can make headway in tackling the gender disparity when it comes to access to finance, we should also be able to help increase the visibility of more diverse founders from underrepresented groups and foster a more inclusive funding environment.
It is worth noting that there are several organisations in Scotland that exist to support female-founded businesses. Mint Ventures, for example, is a Glasgow-based, women-led angel investment group that has a strong track record for supporting female tech entrepreneurs.
There are also various networks and events that promote and support female founders, including our annual conference, Women in Synthetic Biology (WiSB), and the BiA Women in Biotech network, as well as industry-led programmes designed to help early-stage companies.
Last year, we launched the Biotech Innovators programme to give startups access to commercial and technical expertise, helping bring new products and services into the bioeconomy – and we are proud to say that six out of the 10 businesses are female-led.
One of which is SeaDyes, founded by Jessica Giannotti, a startup that uses seaweed as a base for natural fabric dyes. N-ovatio-N is also involved in the programme. Its founder, Georgina Robinson, is exploring a chemical-free approach to treat aquaculture waste.
Women in biotechnology are doing exceptional work, as these examples demonstrate, but we can’t be complacent. It is crucial that we continue to empower a diverse array of future leaders to pursue enriching careers in science and technology – and that must include ensuring there is a level playing field when it comes to access to funding.