WCorporation ยท The 2% โ 3% Campaign
Our Data & Methodology
How we track ยท What we count ยท Where the numbers come fromThis tracker is built on transparency. Every data source is listed here. Every definition is explicit. If you think we're missing something โ tell us.
How We Collect Data
01
RSS Scanning
We automatically scan six UK tech and business publications twice daily. Any funding announcement is analysed by AI to identify all-female founding teams.
02
Community Submissions
Anyone can submit a deal via our public form. Our AI analyses the announcement, assesses founding team gender, and flags it for human review before it goes live.
03
Human Verification
Every deal is reviewed and approved by the WCorporation team before it appears on the tracker. AI flags, humans decide. No deal goes live automatically.
Our AI confidence score reflects how certain the analysis is that the founding team is all-female, based on publicly available information. High confidence = founders explicitly named and confirmed female. Medium = strong indicators. Low = unclear โ these are flagged for extra scrutiny. We only publish deals we can verify.
What We Count
All-female founded
Every member of the founding team identifies as female. Mixed-gender founding teams are excluded from our primary count, though we note them separately. We follow the founder's own gender identification.
UK company
Incorporated or headquartered in the United Kingdom. Companies with dual headquarters are included if their primary UK operations are substantial. We verify via Companies House where possible.
VC funding
Equity investment from venture capital firms, angel investors, or institutional investors. Grants, loans, crowdfunding, and government funding are excluded from the primary tracker.
Deal amount
The total round size as publicly announced. Where amounts are undisclosed, we mark as "undisclosed" and exclude from financial totals. We do not estimate undisclosed amounts.
Total UK VC (2025)
ยฃ14.4 billion ($17.2bn), sourced from Tracxn and Dealroom. This is our baseline for calculating the female-founder share. The 2026 total is updated quarterly as data becomes available.
The 2% figure
The widely cited statistic that all-female founding teams receive approximately 2% of total UK VC. Sourced from British Business Bank Equity Tracker, PitchBook, and Atomico State of European Tech. First documented in the Alison Rose Review (2019).
Live Data Sources
RSS โ Scanned automatically twice daily
Sifted Live
sifted.eu
Europe's leading startup and VC publication. Strong UK coverage of early and growth-stage rounds.
Tech.eu Live
tech.eu
European tech and startup funding news. Regular coverage of UK rounds across all stages.
TechCrunch Live
techcrunch.com
Global tech media with dedicated UK coverage. Strong on Series A+ rounds and notable seed deals.
City A.M. Live
cityam.com
London-focused business daily. Covers funding rounds across the UK startup ecosystem.
Bdaily Live
bdaily.co.uk
UK regional business news. Strong coverage of deals outside London โ North East, Yorkshire, Midlands.
Prolific North Live
prolificnorth.co.uk
Northern England business and tech media. Captures deals that national outlets miss.
Research โ Referenced for benchmark statistics
British Business Bank Quarterly
british-business-bank.co.uk
UK Equity Tracker โ the authoritative source for UK VC investment data broken down by founder gender. Quarterly and annual reports.
Female Foundry Index Annual
femalefoundry.co
Europe's largest annual report on female-founded startup funding. 2026 edition: UK female-founded startups raised โฌ2.5B in 2025 (11% of total UK VC).
PitchBook All In Annual
pitchbook.com
Annual female founders in VC ecosystem report. Primary source for the 2% all-female team figure. Global and European data.
Atomico State of European Tech Annual
stateofeuropeantech.com
Comprehensive annual report on European VC. Notes that female-only team funding has stagnated since 2016 despite overall market growth.
Dealroom Quarterly
dealroom.co
European startup and VC data platform. Used for total UK VC figures and deal-level data on individual rounds.
Companies House Live
companieshouse.gov.uk
UK company register. Used to verify company incorporation, registered address, and director names for deals submitted to the tracker.
Community โ Submitted by our network
WCorp Community Live
Submit via our form โ
Founders, investors, journalists, and supporters who submit deals directly. Every submission is AI-analysed and human-reviewed before going live.
Press Releases & PR Live
Direct submissions from comms teams
PR professionals and comms teams can submit funding announcements directly. Email [email protected] with the press release.
Known Limitations
This tracker is incomplete by design โ and honest about it.
Not every UK deal is announced publicly. Many all-female founded companies raise without press coverage, particularly at seed stage. Our RSS scanning catches announced deals only. We estimate we capture 40โ60% of all qualifying deals. This is why community submissions matter โ if you know about a deal that isn't here, please tell us.
The 2026 tracker launched in March 2026. Deals from January and February 2026 may be missing. We are actively backfilling from press archives.
Not every UK deal is announced publicly. Many all-female founded companies raise without press coverage, particularly at seed stage. Our RSS scanning catches announced deals only. We estimate we capture 40โ60% of all qualifying deals. This is why community submissions matter โ if you know about a deal that isn't here, please tell us.
The 2026 tracker launched in March 2026. Deals from January and February 2026 may be missing. We are actively backfilling from press archives.
Know a source we're missing?
If you know of a publication, database, or data source we should be scanning โ tell us. We review every suggestion.
โ Thank you โ we've received your suggestion and will review it shortly.