Diversity across the UK’s high-growth startups and scaleups
Beauhurst has long believed in the importance of diversity—in all its forms—to the UK’s high-growth ecosystem. Diversity fuels growth and innovation. But we have historically been reticent about many forms of diversity. As a company providing data and analysis we have felt limited to speaking about issues where good data can be brought to bear. For this reason we have published regularly about the gender, age and nationality of founders, directors and employees at startups and scaleups.
Diversity is obviously broader than those three issues. Unfortunately good data cannot be found or created on the other areas of diversity where we also know anecdotally and instinctively that there is under-representation. This is why you won’t have seen us put out much publicly on these areas. We are not the only ones facing this problem: much of the data around minorities is highly-protected under the GDPR…
These are the special category data: personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin; personal data revealing political opinions; personal data revealing religious or philosophical beliefs; personal data revealing trade union membership; genetic data; biometric data (where used for identification purposes); data concerning health; data concerning a person’s sex life; and data concerning a person’s sexual orientation. You can read more about special category data here. The strength of these rules will also be a stumbling block to any forthcoming solution.
But in order for Beauhurst to more meaningfully address the issues of under-represented ethnicities, sexualities and other minorities in the UK’s high-growth ecosystem, we will need better data. Recent successes on the gender equality issue, such as the creation of HMT’s Investing in Women code, started from good data. Once the scale of the problem was evidenced, the existence of the problem was undeniable and the nature of the correct interventions could start to be determined. The issues of diversity where we do have good data are populated in large part by data we get from Companies House and I believe Companies House is the best mechanism by which to collect comprehensive data on other diversity issues.
We hope to lobby the government to get Companies House to seek data on ethnicity, sexuality, and other diversity issues from directors. This will still only yield a partial dataset: directors will be able to opt-out and/or to make their answers not public. But even where they don’t make the answers public (which means Beauhurst won’t be able to use the data), I hope Companies House (or ONS) would be able to produce summary statistics.
But imperfect data should not stop us (or others) from presenting and analysing the issues of diversity in the UK’s business landscape. For this reason, we are compiling in this hub all the known publications and resources on any aspect of diversity that is available. Some of these we have contributed data to, others are the exclusive work of others that we wish to amplify. If you know of research that you think should be included here, or would like to request data for research you are conducting, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Henry Whorwood, Head of Research & Consultancy
In collaboration with our friends at Newable, we’ve highlighted key trends amongst, and disparities between, all-female, mixed-gender and all-male founding teams; from the funding they’ve received to the key support systems they’ve leveraged. Download the report here.

Disability Within the High-Growth Space
According to data published in 2018, around 22% (or 13.9m people) in the UK reported a form of disability. This means that around one in five people

LGBTQ+ Diversity Within the High-Growth Ecosystem
We know there’s a lot of unrealised potential in underrepresented groups. But which resources & funds are available for LGBTQ+ people in the UK?

6 Black-owned startups to watch in 2020 and beyond
We’re excited to be partnering with Cornerstone Partners, Engage Inclusivity and Diversity VC on a new research project exploring VC funding for Black and diverse founders in the
Resource Hub
Gender
British Business Bank & Diversity VC · Report
Increasing Gender Diversity in Corporate Supply Chains
WEConnect · Global network
The Spinout Journey: Barriers and Enablers to Gender Inclusive Innovation
Oxford Brookes · Report
The Entrepreneurs Network · Report
The Entrepreneurs Network · Report
Femstreet · Free newsletter
Race & Ethnicity
Extend VC · Report
Impact of Covid-19 on Black and Ethnic Minority-led Businesses
Extend VC · Report
10×10 · Report
Receipt of Start Up Loans by Ethnicity
gov.uk · Raw data
Increasing Ethnic Diversity in Corporate Supply Chains
MSDUK · Procurement hub
Barclays Black Founder Accelerator
Barclays · Accelerator programme
Disability
Fund and service provider for disabled entrepreneurs
Leonard Cheshire · Grant award for disabled entrepreneurs
Tech London Advocates · Working group
LGBTQ
Network and events for LGBTQ entrepreneurs
Stonewall · Report
Tech London Advocates · Working group
European LGBTIQ Chamber of Commerce
EGLCC · Chamber of Commerce
Age
COVID-19: Economic Impact on Age in the Workplace
Business in the Community · Factsheet
Doddery but dear?: Examining age-related stereotypes
Centre for Ageing Better · Report
Everyday Ageism in the Tech Industry
CWJobs · Report
Intersectional
Beauhurst & The ScaleUp Institute · Report
Venturing into Diversity & Inclusion
Diversity VC · Report
Diversity VC & Oliver Wyman · Report
Atomico· Report
Newsletter and Fellowship programme
Fund for underrepresented entrepreneurs
Fund for underrepresented entrepreneurs
Fund for underrepresented entrepreneurs
How Embracing Diversity Opens Global Opportunity
UKBAA, InvestUK & Lord Nathan Wei · Webinar
Business in the Community · Blog
Andy Ayim on Minorities in Tech
Andy Ayim · Free newsletter
Colorintech · Insights, events, free newsletter
100+ Diversity in Tech Initiatives in Europe
Sifted · Article
A Practical Toolkit for VC Funds
DiversityVC · Free toolkit
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