Supporting Women-Led Entrepreneurship in Northern Ireland

In the week of International Women’s Day, it was encouraging to see meaningful conversations taking place around the future of women-led entrepreneurship and investment in Northern Ireland.

Our portfolio company founder Clare Ryan, CEO of ITUS Secure Technologies, joined fellow founders and angel investors from AwakenAngels to meet Matthew Patrick MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office. The roundtable discussion brought together women from across the startup and investment community to explore both the progress being made and the barriers that remain for women building and funding businesses.

Hosted at the Ebrington Hotel in Derry, the discussion focused on several key themes shaping the ecosystem today — including access to early-stage capital, scaling opportunities for women-led businesses, and representation within the investment community.

AwakenAngels, an entity which has previously partnered and co-invested alongside Symvan Capital, continues to play an important role in this conversation. As the first women-led investment syndicate and community across the island of Ireland, it brings together founders and angel investors to support female entrepreneurship and increase participation in early-stage investing.

At Symvan Capital, we believe that diverse founders and investors are essential to building a healthy and innovative startup ecosystem. This belief is reflected in our decision to become a signatory to the Investing in Women Code, back in November 2024, a UK government-backed initiative designed to improve access to finance for women entrepreneurs and increase transparency around investment decision-making.

The Code encourages investment firms to track and publish data on funding for female founders and to actively work towards creating a more inclusive investment environment. By signing the Code, we have committed to playing our part in helping address the funding imbalance that still exists within venture capital.

Conversations like the one held this week are a valuable step in ensuring that more women have the opportunity, support and capital needed to build and scale successful businesses.

We are proud to see Clare Ryan representing the strength of female leadership within the early-stage technology ecosystem and leading our portfolio company ITUS Secure Technologies.