Hi there,
I’m writing this intro from the mountains in Norway.
We launched cohort 8 of our fundraising accelerator this week - welcome to the 40+ who have joined us 🙌
18 months ago Dan and I went for a long walk and conjured this up.
We knew it was much needed, so we started with a super small test and now we’re running back-to-back accelerators, rated world-class by founders and creating positive outcomes.
Massive thanks to Dan for leading on this with Lea (dream team) and all our partners who help subsidise the cost >> FounderCatalyst, Shoosmiths and Barclays Eagle Labs and of course Shakira for all her help.
Otherwise lots of support below and a chance to meet IRL at our fundraising meet up with other female founders and a panel of investors on April 23rd.
Sending love
Emmie
P.S. Very excited for the live launch of The Female Founders Rise ShowYou’re invited to join Mae, Emmie and 100 women for the launch here.
IN-PERSON & ONLINE EVENTS
[London] Fundraising Meet > Join us at Shoosmiths on April 23rd at 9am to 11 am to explore all things fundraising with our panel: Emma Steele, Ascension VC , Dan Bowyer Superseed VC and Catalina Schveninger, Emerge Education >> Register here
[Online] Fundraising Ask Me Anything with Carmel and Dan > Dive into all things fundraising at the crossroads of tech and impact, April 14th at 12 noon >> Register here
[Online] Finding investors and Nailing your Valuation > 16th April at 12pm, join Sam Simpson, Founder of Founder Catalyst >> Register here
WORD FROM DAN
I've noticed a number of venture capital bashing articles this week. I understand, and genuinely feel the need. But they won’t make venture capital more fair, or reasonable, or considerate, or whatever the beef is.
Venture capital is brutal. It's Power Law. It's global. Speed of sale, speed of scale. Aggressively serving a very specific market.
Tier 1 US venture firms (they're not really VC firms, but that's a discussion for another time.) are demanding that new startups get from $1m to $10m ARR in twelve months. One to ten in twelve is the new ask, before they'll even entertain a pitch.
But how much of the US economy, or the UK or the French economy for that matter, is venture capital in real money?
The answer is: almost nothing.
I'm going to mix metaphors now to make a point, but bear with me.
VC funds invest in 0.2% of new US businesses. 0.05% of startups raise any VC ever. That's five in every ten thousand. The other 9,995 fund themselves through savings, bank loans, grants, f&f, angels, credit cards, revenue, other…
In 2024, total VC investment amounted to roughly 0.55% of GDP in the US and 0.57% in the UK. That's not even 1% of economic output. In France and Germany, it's even less. (Yes, AI mega-rounds have inflated recent totals, but the capital concentration is so extreme it actually reinforces the point).
Talking of concentration and why VC gets the PR oxygen (beyond bad behaviour which is a tiny fraction of idiots in reality) - VC-backed businesses make up ~77% of US public market cap, and account for 42% of all R&D spending.
So, venture capital is a tiny, brutal, hyper-selective sliver of the economy - doing exactly what it's designed to do. It's not designed to be fair. It's not designed to fund most businesses. It's designed to fund a tiny % in the hope of outlier returns.
Startups fail, of course, but what you may not know is that the majority of VC funds fail too. At last count 65% fail to return 1x.
In the UK, it's hard to nail down venture capital numbers without including its big brother, private equity. PE and VC-backed companies contribute around £200 billion to UK GDP - roughly 7% of the economy, supporting ~2.5 million jobs. But that's mostly PE, not VC.
So, most of the real economy runs on capital that doesn't generate headlines, launch podcasts or proffer hot takes.
VC bashing is too often like complaining about the rules of Formula 1 when most people are driving to Tesco.
It is one tool in a very large toolbox, designed for a very specific kind of founder and company. For everyone else, it's the wrong tool. And that's fine.
So here's my ask with love: pick the right kind of capital for you and your business, move away from the headlines, heads down and build.
You got this.
Dan x
https://www.linkedin.com/in/danbowyer/
RESOURCES & EVENTS
1. We’re working on a few AI initiatives with Siddhi Mittal > the waitlist to be notified when doors open for the 11th May one >> Register for waitlist
2. Top tips for finding angel investment from Emmie >> Watch here
3. Upside Podcast with Dan Bowyer > Why $800m Mistral? Who’s boycotting Palantir? >> Watch here
4. FounderCatalyst > Get 10% off when you join using this link >> You can also get a free 30min 1-1 S/EIS call here.
5. Barclays Eagle Labs > Share Your Deck with 800+ Investors on their Demo Directory >> Join here
6. If you haven’t yet read The Rise Report of Female Entrepreneurship 2026, download the report directly here
Have a great week,
Love from Emmie, Dan & Lea
Who are we
Emmie - Founder of FFR
Dan - VC leading on the accelerator/ fundraising content
Lea - Runs all things fundraising at FFR