Patricia Hamzahee is an investor and co-founder of UK-based Extend Ventures. Her team’s November 2020 research, Diversity Beyond Gender, into access to funding for diverse founders in the UK was the first of its kind, and they have recently been commissioned for similar research in the European context. Patricia speaks to us about the particular challenges facing UK investors when it comes to investing with an equity lens, and what they’re doing to build a better evidence base.

New research from EIB identifies the barriers to risk capital for women entrepreneurs in Europe, on both the demand and supply side, with multi-level recommendations to get them ready for institutional funding. We interview Shiva Dustdar, Head of Division at EIB’s Innovation Finance Advisory, about the report’s key findings and implications.