The legal case unfolding in a London court between the founder of Cognism and five of its investors, including Balderton Capital and AVP Capital, would be notable at any time. A court hearing this week appears to have dealt an early blow to the investor defendants, according to reporting from Sifted

Category: FOUNDER ACCESS & CAPITAL REFORM

18 May 2026 | Category: FOUNDER ACCESS & CAPITAL REFORM

The statistic that frames this announcement has not changed in a decade. Female founders in the UK receive less than 2% of all venture capital deployed. Despite numerous initiatives, codes, commitments and pledges from investors, the number has barely shifted. Against that backdrop, the British Busi

There is a cost that does not appear in any startup's profit and loss account, that no investor has to justify on a returns attribution sheet, and that no regulatory framework currently requires anyone to measure. It is the cost of raising a round.

A freedom of information request that nobody should have needed to file found that 81 per cent of the assessors for Innovate UK's Women in Innovation programme were male. Not a percentage from an anonymous third-party study. The publicly funded body specifically designed to support female founders w

Aurora has run the Aurora Tech Award since 2021. The programme accepts applications from women founders of technology startups, assesses them through a structured evaluation process, and connects finalists with mentors, networks and recognition. The scale of the pipeline it has built is striking: applications grew from 116 in 2021 to 3,400 in 2025. That trajectory tells a clear story. The founders are there. The problem is not a shortage of women building technology compan

Two pence from every pound. That is the share of UK venture capital that reaches all-female founding teams, according to data from the British Business Bank's own research. In a year when UK equity investment fell 2.5% to £10.8 billion and deal numbers dropped 15.1% to 2,048, the concentration of capital in a narrow slice of the founder population is not a minor inefficiency. It is a structural constraint on how much economic potential the UK's startup ecosystem is capabl

The landscape of startup funding in 2026 is changing fast. Venture capital remains powerful, but it is no longer the only serious path. A new wave of regulated digital securities is creating alternative routes to capital for founders who want fairer, broader access, greater control, and more flexible ownership structures.

Sometime in the next two months, a tokenisation platform will ring the opening bell on NASDAQ for the first time. Securitize Corp — the rebranded entity that will emerge from the merger of Securitize, Inc. with Cantor Equity Partners II (CEPT) — is expected to close its business combination in the first half of 2026, trading under the ticker "SECZ."

Is Tokenisation Safe, Legal, and Can Anyone Get Ripped Off? Founders Are Asking. The Answers Are More Complicated Than the Platforms Let On.

What Tokenisation Means for Startups Tokenisation refers to the process of converting ownership rights in an asset into a digital token on a blockchain. This technology allows companies to represent shares, equity, or other financial instruments as tokens that can be traded more easily and transparently. For startups, tokenisation offers several advantages: Access to a broader investor base: Tokens can be sold to investors worldwide without traditional intermedia

The UK investment landscape has taken a significant step toward gender diversity with the recent first close of £130 million for Bootstrap4F’s Women Backing Women fund of funds. This fund, backed by four major institutions, aims to support female-led investment teams, addressing a critical gap in the venture capital ecosystem. The move signals a fresh approach to improving funding for female founders by focusing on the fund managers who decide where capital flows.

Most founders do not spend much time thinking about their cap table beyond the immediate needs of a funding round. It is created, updated and maintained as part of the process. Lawyers and advisors ensure everything is recorded correctly. Spreadsheets are shared. Documents are signed. The system works, but it is not particularly elegant.

Startup funding has always rewarded proximity as much as quality. Tokenisation raises a quieter question: does it have to? One of the less openly discussed realities of early-stage fundraising is just how dependent it remains on networks. On the surface, venture capital presents itself as a meritocratic system. Strong businesses attract investment. Compelling founders secure backing. The best opportunities rise to the top. In practice, the picture is more complicated.

Blockchain technology offers a fresh approach to these problems by providing a secure, transparent, and decentralized way to track goods and transactions. This post explores how startups can use blockchain to improve their supply chain management and gain a competitive edge.

A plain-English guide to the language of tokenisation, written for founders and investors — not developers. If you are exploring tokenisation for the first time, the terminology can feel like a barrier. This glossary is designed to cut through that. Each term is explained in straightforward language, with a short note on why it matters in practice. This is not a technical manual. It is a reference point for anyone who wants to understand the conversation without needing a bac

Building Sustainable Tokenised Communities That Empower Users as Stakeholders. Turning users into stakeholders is a powerful way to build engaged, loyal communities. Tokenised community mechanics offer a practical path to achieve this by giving members real ownership and influence. But success depends on designing these systems with sustainability in mind, avoiding pure speculation, and aligning tokens with genuine value creation. This post explores how token-gated access, co