A challenger bank and a luxury subscription skincare and beauty brand are among the successes in this year’s J.P. Morgan’s women in business power list.
J.P. Morgan’s Top 200 Women-Powered Businesses report highlights the diverse ways women-powered businesses are impacting the economy but it also confronts the challenges these businesses face, particularly in terms of exit activity and securing investment.
Starling Bank, a London-based digital challenger bank founded by Anne Boden, took the top spot in this year’s list. The bank has grown rapidly, with sales doubling to £507 million in 2023, while headcount increased by 31.8 per cent to 2,308 employees.
Starling Bank founder, Anne Boden
The bank secured £715 million in equity finance across nine funding rounds and has recorded strong growth in both customer numbers and deposit balances. Raman Bhatia took over as CEO in 2024, following Boden’s decision to step down in 2023.
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Beauty Pie, founded in 2015 by Marcia Kilgore, is a London-based e-commerce platform that sells skincare and beauty products through a subscription model and is loved by industry insiders and customers alike. It has secured £126 million in equity investment via four funding rounds from investors, including Index Ventures and General Catalyst Partners and recorded an annual turnover of £67.5 million in 2023, up from £14.5 million in 2020.
Under the leadership of CEO Kevin Cornils, Beauty Pie has seen significant growth, with its headcount increasing from 36 in 2020 to 195 in 2023.
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A driving force
Commenting on the findings, Spear’s UHNW Wealth Manager of the Year 2023, Charlotte Bobroff, and Stephanie Khalef-Wassmer, co-heads of UK Women & Wealth & Executive Directors at J.P. Morgan Private Bank said ‘women-powered businesses continue to be a driving force’.
‘Since we unveiled our inaugural report in 2021, the proportion of women-powered UK businesses has increased, rising 47.0% in the last three years. Increased venture capital investment in women-powered businesses has created an environment where “big ideas” are encouraged and celebrated,’ they said.
‘This enthusiasm has ultimately served as a catalyst for expansion. Among the top 200 businesses mentioned in this report, 13.5% have received investment from venture capital firms. That’s a higher proportion than the overall women-powered business cohort.’
Making up the top 10 in J.P. Morgan’s Top 200 Women-Powered Businesses report were the Oxford International Education, BAP Pharma, Quantexa, Panaseer, The Ralph McQueens Dairies, MPB and Speechmantic.
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Empowered and powerful
As of 2023, there are 14,555 women-powered businesses in the UK, accounting for 29.7 per cent of the high-growth company population, with 51.9% of them being female-founded. These businesses have collectively secured £33.3 billion in equity investment and £1.32 billion in grant funding over the past decade.
Women-powered businesses are defined in the report as high-growth companies founded, led, or majority-owned by women, or those with management teams comprised of at least 50% women.
Maya Prabhu, market head – UK Domestic at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, told Spear’s increased funding for women-led ventures has nurtured an environment where bold ideas are not only encouraged but celebrated.
‘Increased venture capital investment in women-powered businesses has created an environment where ‘big ideas’ are encouraged and celebrated. This enthusiasm has ultimately served as a catalyst for expansion,’ Prabhu said.
‘Among the top 200 businesses mentioned in the report, 13.5 per cent have received investment from venture capital firms. That’s a higher proportion than the overall women-powered business cohort,’ she noted. This significant figure reflects the growing interest of the venture capital community in supporting women entrepreneurs and their ventures, but Prabhu stressed it is essential to maintain momentum.
‘We need to ensure the support and investment from the Venture Capital community continue to grow and fuel women-powered businesses in the years ahead.’
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Levelling the playing field
Beyond the financial figures, Prabhu touched on the larger, rapidly evolving socioeconomic context that businesses now face. She pointed to emerging technologies and major political shifts that have created a dynamic, often unpredictable landscape.
‘Without question, in the last 12 months, we have witnessed a series of far-reaching socioeconomic changes that have created an increasingly complex landscape. From the rapid adoption of AI across industries to pivotal political elections, the world is more dynamic than ever, presenting both challenges and opportunities, she said.
Prabhu said investing in women-led ventures is critical for levelling the playing field, helping women business leaders overcome historical barriers to entry and success.
‘Most importantly, supporting women entrepreneurs is key to levelling the playing field when it comes to gender parity,’ Prabhu stated. ‘It’s important we keep backing women-led businesses and helping future CEOs and founders. Our mission is to ensure we provide these trailblazers with the tools, support, and education to harness business success in order to secure financial futures going forward.’
Exit values
Despite success stories like Starling Bank and Beauty Pie, the overall exit market for high-growth companies in the UK has seen a significant downturn. In 2021, the UK exit market reached an unprecedented £30.5 billion, largely due to high company valuations and increased activity during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, exit values plummeted by 75.1 per cent to £7.60 billion in 2022, and by 2023, the total exit value had dropped further to £3.32 billion.
Women-powered businesses have been particularly impacted, with their total exit value dropping by more than 98 per cent, from £2.95 billion in 2021 to just £27 million in 2023. This sharp decline reflects the broader challenges facing private markets, including rising inflation, political uncertainty, and a cost-of-living crisis, which have made it more difficult for businesses to pursue exits. Despite the downturn, women-powered businesses achieved a record share of 20.9 per cent of total exit values in 2022, bolstered by notable deals like MiroBio’s £356 million acquisition, the report highlighted.
