Record 45% of funding raises led by women at SETsquared Bristol

Jenny Bailey, CEO of Ferryx, a University of Bristol woman-led spinout, which raised £305,000 in seed capital

Press release issued: 2 March 2023

A record 45% of total funds raised by companies at tech incubator SETsquared Bristol were led by women, according to their 2022 impact results.

Women raised £15 million of the total £33 million raised by the 85 companies at the University of Bristol-led incubator. This is a testament to its long-term focus for inclusivity within the tech sector which includes its programmes, Enterprising Women and Breakthrough Bursary.

SETsquared Bristol’s new 2022 impact figures also showed that the healthtech and engineering sectors were particularly strong for investment, comprising 33% and 36% of total funding.

Examples of women funding raises included digital eye care company, OKKO, which raised £2 million VC-led investment to support the launch of its sight monitoring app.

OKKO Health Co-founder and CEO, Dr Stephanie Campbell said: “Last year was pivotal for OKKO Health. As well as raising investment, we grew our Bristol-based team to 20 people and developed the base tech for our medical AI development. We couldn’t have done this without our SETsquared network, one of whom was our interim CTO, and another an integral board member.”

Ferryx, a University of Bristol woman-led spinout, raised £305k seed capital, as well as being awarded an Innovate Fast Start grant.

Ferryx CEO, Dr Jenny Bailey said: "2022 was a great year for Ferryx, we received our first investment and were able to use these funds to launch our first product, Ferrocalm, a food supplement to support gut health. The support we have received through SETsquared Bristol has been integral to both these processes and we would not have progressed as quickly otherwise."

Other high-level SETsquared Bristol company raises included healthtech innovators Emm and FluoretiQ, metaverse tech company Condense, giving platform Neighbourly, and world-leading tech interface company, Ultraleap.

Kimberley Brook, Director at SETsquared Bristol said: “It’s a testament to the entrepreneurialism and resilience of our women-led companies that they are raising more funding than ever before. We’re thrilled with these stats given that 83% of UK VC deals are to businesses who have no women on the founding teams, but there is more to do. We will continue to work hard to drive tech investment and increase support for underrepresented founders.”

Find out more about SETsquared Bristol’s impact.

Further information

Further SETsquared Bristol 2022 impact stats:

SETsquared Bristol supported 85 companies across 20 sectors.
Its companies created over 150 jobs and generated over £20 million in revenues.
42% of its companies' founders/C-Suite members are women.
28% of its companies’ founders/C-Suite members are from a minority ethnic background.
6% of its companies' founders/C-Suite are people with known disabilities.
Companies with founders from ethnic minority backgrounds raised over £4 million (making up 12% of the total funding).

About SETsquared Bristol:

SETsquared Bristol is a University of Bristol-led tech incubator, supporting founders to grow their businesses and make an impact in the world. It has incubated over 350 companies to date, with over £660 million raised. It supports its companies with bespoke business support, skills and training, an expert network and community of startups and scaleups. It has been named ‘Hottest Accelerator in Europe’ at The Europas Awards and has three times been awarded ‘Global #1 University Business Incubator’ as part of the SETsquared Partnership of six centres.