'Men's ideas are visionary - but women's are written off as niche'

"It's a bit of a niche idea"

Those are the words female entrepreneurs say they keep hearing as they try and secure funding and investment for their new business.

For Bethan Higson from Oxford, her idea was a non-alcoholic aperitif which people could have at the end of the day instead of a glass of wine or gin and tonic.

She came up with the concept while pregnant and the first bottle of Mother Root was made in her kitchen while she was on maternity leave.

It's now on sale in hundreds of supermarkets, the company had a turnover of £7m last year and has increased staffing from two to 20.

So why was it so hard to secure backing at the beginning?

"I kept bumping up against this word niche" said Bethan, who worked 10 years in the drinks industry prior to coming up with her idea.

"I could see from my repeat customers at a market stall and the fact two star Michelin restaurants were stocking the product that there was something here but when I needed to get investment and grow the team, investors I was meeting failed to see the opportunity".

She believes for a consumer led product, women often see the potential which men don't.

A lack of female 'angel' investors - that is a high net-worth individual who're willing to invest in a business at an early stage, despite the risk - means women's ideas are often unable to get off the ground.

Mother Root featured on Dragons Den in October 2025 and was offered a £90,000 investment in exchange for 5% stake from Dragon Stephen Bartlett.

Bethan is not the only Oxfordshire entrepreneur who's struggled to get venture capital funding.

Cici Muldoon is a quantum physicist who has created a test for urine which can identify cancer in three minutes.

Her company Serox is based in Long Hanborough, near Witney.

"We all know the earlier you catch cancer, the better the outcome for the patient and the lower the cost to the system.

"This test can be done in a GP surgery and triages the patients who really need expensive invasive procedures, so they're seen first".

Cici also found getting backing for her biobank difficult and relied initially on savings and those she knew.

She has now co-founded an angel investment network called Oxford Venture Angels.

"I've seen firsthand how at some events someone older, male, lots of gravitas attracts more trust from the audience, but I think that's a subconcious bias".

Her membership is now has almost a 50:50 male-to-female ratio.

"We're really proud of that and we're starting to change things and see female founders come and present with great success".

The Women and Equalities committee published a report last year about female entrepreneurship and found only two percent of venture capital investment went to female founders.

All-male teams got 80% of the funding available.

Alex Brewer, the Liberal Democrat MP for North East Hampshire who sits on the cross party committee said: "We heard from one woman who was setting up a product to help with the menopause and was told by a male investor it was a 'bit niche'.

"[But] 51% of the population will face the menopause."

The committee called on the government to open up investment routes for women and set a target for its own British Business Bank to ensure no less than 30% of the finance it makes available goes to female led businesses.

A Government spokesperson said: "We are backing female entrepreneurs by tackling barriers and unlocking opportunities that will support their businesses and drive economic growth"

They added "the Invest in Women taskforce has secured over £635 million in funding for women-led businesses, with £70 million invested across 15 deals in its first year".

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