Women hold 12% of senior investment roles in UK-based PE and VC firms − survey

The percentage of women working in senior investment roles in the UK is 11% when including UK firms’ European offices and exceeds the European average of 10%, according to the report. This represents a slight increase compared to the 10% recorded in 2021 and 6% in 2018.

“This is an apprenticeship-based industry and so we are never going to see the numbers at the top of the industry move quickly, but what’s great to see is seeing them move to the right direction,” chair of Level 20 Cheryl Potter said at a webinar hosted earlier today discussing the survey results. She noted however that, although there is much to be celebrated, there is still much to be done.

For firms with AUM below GBP 100m, which are predominantly VC firms, the percentage of senior women in investment roles has stayed relatively consistent at 14% (2023), 15% (2021) and 13% (2018), it said. Although smaller firms in the UK have a higher proportion of women in mid-level and senior roles in investment teams, they also have a higher percentage of all-male investment teams, which is due, in part, to the small number of employees in these firms and their relatively static workforces, according to the report.

As the pool of female talent at all levels grows, it is expected that a domino effect will see more women being made partner, who will in turn act as role models, helping to grow recruitment even further, it said.

There has been an upward trajectory in the proportion of women in mid-level and junior investment roles reaching 24% this year versus 20% in 2021, and 38% versus 33% in 2021, respectively.

Overall, the proportion of women in senior roles in the UK – both investment and non-investment – now stands at 20% compared to 15% in 2021, while 40% of the private equity and venture capital workforce is made up of women.

Room for improvement
There is a much greater focus in educating younger women and people across different, diverse backgrounds to make career choices early on, which translates to a pool of talent that the firms are then able to ensure is considered for entry level roles, Rebecca Gibson, partner at Oakley Capital said at the webinar. However, it is important to make sure that these candidates are supported throughout their career so they can succeed and this can gradually be reflected to the senior metrics, she added.

While the marginal progress in promoting gender diversity in the industry is encouraging, the report highlighted the importance to continue tracking representation. This year saw an increase in the number of firms providing data for the needs of the survey, which includes 268 firms and 13,500 employees in UK firms, including their European offices.

The number of firms sharing data on gender increased by 45% and 73% for ethnicity data compared to 2021.

In addition, and in spite of this progress, 17% of UK investment teams are male-only. This compares favourably to other European countries, according to the report, but still demonstrates the need to improve gender representation in the industry.

Ethnicity in focus
When looking at intersectionality across senior investment and non-investment roles, only 20 women or 3% are from ethnically diverse backgrounds, but the survey found no black women in senior investment or non-investment roles.

“The positive is we are collecting the data, but we shouldn’t be happy about the shocking figure of zero senior black women,” Wol Kolade, managing partner at Livingbridge, said at the webinar. “It takes time to see change and we should focus on a minimum ten-year cycle of attracting, retaining and then promoting talent,” he added.

The proportion of individuals working in PE and VC, across all roles, of Asian, Black or other ethnicities is 18%, and in investment roles is 17%, according to the survey. At a senior level, however, 10% of leaders are of Asian, Black or other ethnic heritage.

Across the PE and VC sectors, 26% of firms that reported data are made up of an exclusively white workforce. The vast majority of UK respondents were white by over 80%, with the balance being 10.4% Asian, 3% Black, 2.4% Multi-Ethnic/Mixed and 2.5% who selected “other”.

Given the smaller population size, the report noted that it was more difficult to measure progress year-on-year and the data indicates limited change since 2021. The survey reported ethnicity data for the second time since 2018, as noted in the webinar. The dataset includes 2,533 individuals in the UK across 99 firms who self-declared their ethnicity, while 126 firms provided ethnicity data, representing 4,690 employees who self-declared their ethnicity across UK and European offices.

Promoting diversity
Looking ahead, the report highlighted policies that can promote ethnic and gender diversity in the industry, such as inclusive initiatives within the organisations and continuous recording of diversity data to monitor progress.

“It is very important to create truly inclusive workplaces through role-modelling and test-and-learn initiatives,” said Kolade. He noted, however, that it is hard to maintain an inclusive culture and encouraged firms to focus on the end goal, which is to “access the most diverse talent, because it leads to better investment decisions, better investment performance.” It is an important element of business practice that needs “relentless focus, measurement and transparency,” he added.

Parental leave for both women and men, sponsorship and mentoring within firms and expanding the talent pool beyond the traditional channels were among the means to ensure progress mentioned in the report.

“It’s about bringing people through the funnel,” said Gibson. “This is a long-term career and it starts very much by outreaching early on to schools, universities, making people aware of it,” she added.

The BVCA is the representative body for private equity and venture capital with more than 325 PE and VC members, 100 institutional investors and 220 professional services firms.

Level 20 is a not-for-profit organisation formed in 2015 by 12 senior private equity professionals representing GPs and LPs, with the aim of attracting and retaining more diverse talent across the industry, including women, so that they will account for at least 20% of senior professionals.

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