Business Matters has opened entries today for its first Female Founders Awards, a ranked list of the women building the UK’s leading businesses, with an early bird entry fee of £79 plus VAT that runs until 31 December.
The awards are open to female founders and co-founders of independent UK businesses that have traded for at least two years. Entries close at 23:59 on 12 March 2027, and the list will be published on 14 May 2027, the day after a drinks reception in London where positions and seven awards will be revealed.
Business Matters has reported on female founders since its first issue 40 years ago, but the awards are the first time it has ranked them.
Richard Alvin, founder and group managing director of Capital Business Media, which publishes Business Matters, said: “We have written about the women building British business since our very first issue, but we have never ranked them. The research shows female founders are scaling faster than ever, yet the funding and the recognition still lag behind. We want this to be a list founders can point to with confidence, because every place is earned against published criteria and none of it can be bought.”
How the list will be judged
Each entry will be scored out of 100 against four published criteria: business performance, worth 35 points and measured by growth over two years in turnover, customers, profit or funding; leadership, worth 25; impact, worth 20; and innovation, worth 20. A founder needs at least 60 points to make the list, and the organisers said places will not be filled for the sake of the number.
Every entrant will receive a feedback report setting out her scores on each criterion and the judges’ comments, whether or not she makes the list. Those who miss out will also be told the score of the founder in last place.
The seven awards are each decided by a single published rule, with no separate entry or extra fee. Female Founder of the Year goes to the number one on the list. Rising Star goes to the highest scorer trading for two to five years, and Trailblazer to the highest scorer trading for 15 years or more.
Growth Founder of the Year, Changemaker of the Year and Innovator of the Year go to the highest scores for business performance, impact and innovation respectively. Bootstrapped Founder of the Year goes to the highest total score among founders with no outside equity investment.
Cherry Martin, associate editor of Business Matters, said: “In years of interviewing founders for our Secrets of Success series, I have noticed how rarely women put themselves forward, even when their numbers are outstanding. Every entrant will get written feedback from the judges, so even founders who don’t make the list will know exactly where their business stands and what would move it up. If you have been trading for two years or more, this is your chance to be counted.”
Funding gap persists
The launch follows research from the ScaleUp Institute, reported by Business Matters last month, which found that 333 female founders and co-founders have built businesses with revenues of more than £50m, up from 80 two years earlier. The institute said those companies have combined revenue of £44.7bn and employ 285,000 people.
All-female founder teams received 2 per cent of equity investment across the wider market in 2025, according to the British Business Bank’s latest Investing in Women Code report. Investors signed up to the code directed 6 per cent of their investment value to all-female teams.
In his Budget last week, Chancellor John Healey announced a scale-up programme for women founders and a doubling of British Business Bank commitments to women-led businesses and funds to £200m.
You can enter the awards today: femalefounders.bmmagazine.co.uk
