Funding for Better: Invest in the next stage of Ethical Equity
The global ethical Islamic finance economy is worth nearly three trillion dollars, yet there’s no real infrastructure for compliant start-ups to raise investment in the UK.
The lack of infrastructure is just one of the barriers we’ve seen within investment. Between 2009 and 2019, ethnic minority entrepreneurs received just 1.7% of the investment available.
From that small percentage, Black entrepreneurs received 0.24%; Black female entrepreneurs just 0.02%. Those figures started our journey with Ethical Equity.
We’re the UK’s first equity investment platform that’s dedicated to high-growth, ethically compliant start-ups (ie. B Corp and ethical-Islamic compliant) that want to deliver social, environmental and culture change.
Our E impact criteria ensures we’re supporting underserved entrepreneur communities too, giving them access to capital without barriers.
Our progress with Ethical Equity
We’ve made rapid progress since launching, and have received invaluable support from people and organisations that share our vision.
Winning the Breakthrough Bursary from SETsquared and the SuperTech West Midlands competition helped us to build the investment platform we have today. We also took part in the Investment Association Sparks programme, which allowed us to talk to leading investment banks about investing in early-stage start-ups.
Finally, we’ve attracted major players in the industry to Ethical Equity’s advisory board. This includes Stella Cox CBE, MD of DDCAP Group, and Roy Zimmerhansl, the ex-Global Head of Securities Lending at HSBC.
What’s next on the horizon
This year, we’re doing a lot of work with students through our partnerships with the University of Bristol, University of Essex and Birmingham City universities.
We’re also working with partners like the Black South West Network and the agency Million Labs, which helps non-technical founders build no-code MVPs.
The next big focus is our investment round. We’ve raised around £73k of the SEIS limit, but £250k is the target. Investors already on board include SuperTech West Midlands and Million Labs, as well as impact investor Denis Lindsay and growth expert David Mellor.
We want to build out the team so we can scale up our operations, get deals through and marry investors with the investees.
Then, we’ll be opening Ethical Equity up and becoming FCA authorised, which changes how we can market the fantastic companies on our platform.
Support Ethical Equity’s mission
We’re looking for socially responsible investors who want to create a legacy of lasting change in the entrepreneurial community.
Your support will help us eliminate bias in investment, ensuring minority founders get the opportunities they deserve to succeed and thrive.
Download our deck using the below form to find out more about getting involved in Ethical Equity. If you have a question, you can reach me at ali@ethicalequity.co.uk.
