Abstract:

This paper examines how women-led FemTech ventures navigate gendered innovation ecosystems in the UK and EU. Drawing on a mixed-methods study (survey n=18; semi-structured interviews n=4) conducted between mid-December 2025 and mid-January 2026, we identify funding constraints, regulatory compliance demands and customer acquisition challenges as dominant barriers, set against enabling factors such as grants/accelerators, personal finance, mixed-gender founding teams and ecosystem supports. Benchmarking against EuroChambres 2025 survey suggests convergence on bureaucracy and customer acquisition while revealing sector-specific divergences (e.g., bank loans, mentorship). Framed by Gendered Organisation Theory, Institutional Theory and the Resource-Based View, we show how macro-level institutional logics, meso-level networks and micro-level capabilities co-produce scaling outcomes. We propose equity-oriented interventions for investors (funding transparency), policymakers (streamlined approvals; sex-disaggregated standards) and support organisations (network and mentorship infrastructures; stigma-reduction education). The contribution is an empirically grounded, theory-informed account of how gendered logics and venture capabilities jointly shape the scaling prospects of women-led FemTech in UK/EU contexts.

Please choose your submission type: Full Paper

Primary Track: Entrepreneurship

Keywords: Entrepreneurship Theories;International Entrepreneurship;International entrepreneurship;Female entrepreneurs

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Ms. Rachel Van Rooyen-Krenger