Two years after its launch, the UK's flagship female founder fund has yet to deploy any capital, sparking criticism from industry insiders. The Invest in Women Taskforce was created to address the £1.17 billion gender funding gap, yet its promised fund of funds remains dormant. Sources describe the situation as 'chaotic and second-class,' with concerns mounting about the initiative's effectiveness.

Industry veterans point to the stark contrast between the taskforce's ambitious goals and its current inaction. The UK's female founders receive just 2% of venture capital funding compared to their male counterparts, a disparity the taskforce was meant to tackle. However, critics argue that the organization's leadership structure and decision-making processes have created bureaucratic delays that prevent any meaningful deployment of funds.

One insider described the taskforce as having become 'a talking shop rather than a doer,' with meetings generating more heat than light. The fund's inability to move beyond planning stages has led some to question whether the initiative was ever more than a public relations exercise. With the UK's female founder ecosystem growing increasingly frustrated, the taskforce now faces pressure to either demonstrate concrete progress or risk being seen as another failed government initiative that promised much but delivered little.