Sam Smith on Scaling Female-Led Startups Beyond the Funding Gap
As part of a partnership with Scale and the Women Who Scale initiative, City AM spoke with Sam Smith, the former chief executive of FinnCap, to discuss the challenges holding back female start-up founders and how to assist female-led scaleups. While the spotlight often shines on the funding gap facing female founders, Smith urges a shift in focus towards supporting businesses after they launch.
The Scaling Challenge
Over 24 years advising growth firms, Smith observed a consistent trend: a limited number of women were building companies large enough to reach significant growth stages. “When I gaze back over those 24 years, I could probably count on my hand the number of women founders I advised running sizable companies,” she told City AM. This observation led to the launch of The Superscalers, a non-profit initiative designed to identify and support women building companies with revenues exceeding £50 million.
Smith believes the £50 million revenue mark is a critical turning point, granting both influence and visibility. “From my own experience, I reckon it was around £50m where you start to get a significant voice and you get taken seriously,” she said.
Growth in Female-Led Businesses
Data from The Superscalers shows progress in the number of women-led businesses reaching significant scale. In 2024, the initiative identified just 80 women in the UK who had built businesses to the £50 million revenue level. By 2025, that number had risen to 144.
“What we’re seeing now is the result of women starting businesses 10 or 15 years ago and now reaching those next stages,” Smith added. In 2019, fewer than 200 female-founded companies in the UK had reached £10 million in revenue. However, by last year, that figure climbed to approximately 1,300, indicating more women-led firms are entering the scale-up phase.
“When you get to £20m turnover, it’s only one more doubling to get to £40m or £50m,” Smith said. “There are hundreds of women building companies at that level who are capable of getting there quite quickly.”
Funding and Alternative Capital Sources
Despite progress, female founders continue to receive a disproportionately small share of venture funding globally. Smith notes that while a lack of capital is a factor, traditional funding structures don’t always align with how women build companies.
“VC funding isn’t appropriate for most female founders because of the way they scale and the time it takes,” she said. “Many want to build sustainable businesses and maintain their culture and teams, rather than scale quickly towards a fast exit.”
This often leads female founders to rely more on bootstrapping or patient capital before seeking larger funding rounds. Smith suggests alternative funding sources, such as angel investors and longer-term capital, could play a larger role.
The Importance of Networks and Belief
Smith argues that the biggest barrier remains a lack of belief and access to established networks. “I reckon it took me more than 20 years to feel like I deserved to be in those rooms,” she said. “When you come from a state school background and don’t have that network around you, you just don’t know the playbook. You witness other people running massive businesses and assume you’re not it.”
The Women Who Scale Initiative
The Women Who Scale initiative, part of the Scale Expo & Summit (April 22-23, 2026, at the Business Design Centre in London), aims to connect female founders with investors to facilitate growth beyond the early stages. Amy Knight, co-founder of Women Who Scale, emphasized the require for “meaningful action” to unlock greater participation and investment outcomes for women.
The event will feature founders like Jordan Brompton (Myenergi) and Louise Hill (Gohenry) discussing the challenges of scaling, with panels covering topics from capital access to founder wellbeing.
Economic Impact
The Rose Review estimated that achieving parity in business creation and scaling between men and women could add £250 billion to the UK economy. Adjusted for inflation, that figure is now closer to £310 billion.
Smith’s ambition is to see at least 500 female-founded businesses reach the £50 million threshold. “At that point, you’ve got a critical mass of women with real economic power and influence,” she said. “And once you get that scale of community, you start changing the system from the ground up.”
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