Welcome to our #185 weekly newsletter.
“For women taking control of their financial future”
-Jana Hlistova
From The Purse
In this week’s newsletter, we highlight the third annual Investing in Women Code report published by the UK government.
Over 200 organisations have signed up to the code, and 35% of all venture capital deals made by Investing in Women Code signatories were in female-founded companies last year, compared to the market average of 27%.
Don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Holly Morphew about how women can become financially independent. Holly is a personal finance and wealth building expert-please enjoy!
Listen to the full interview here.
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And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.
I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.
Until next week,
Jana
Investing in Women Code: closing the funding gap for female founders
The government initiative has published the third report (2023).
The Government has published the third annual Investing in Women Code report. Over 200 organisations have signed up to the code, showing the growing numbers of lenders and investors committed to increasing the levels of finance directed towards women-led businesses.
Whilst we are seeing progress, Alison Rose, the NatWest CEO, has said that women founders are ‘still being snubbed by investors.’
In the UK, less than 2p in every £1 of UK equity funding went to all-female founder businesses in 2022, compared to 85p for all-male founding teams.
Here is a summary of the key findings:
35% of all venture capital deals made by Investing in Women Code signatories were in female-founded companies last year, compared to the market average of 27%.
This is the third year in a row that IWC signatories have outperformed the venture capital market.
The report also shows that more diverse investment committees are key for bridging the investment gap.
With 204 signatories, the IWC now covers a significant proportion of the SME lending market and accounts for 39% of UK venture and growth equity deals, up from 24% in 2020.
The number of deals made by VCs with all-female teams rose from 6% in 2021 to 9% in 2022 in the broader market, bringing it in line with the levels achieved by VC signatories which remained constant for the last year.
New signatories included British Patient Capital, the UK’s largest domestic investor in venture and venture growth capital, M&G Catalyst, one of the first large asset managers to join the Code; and the University of Exeter, the first higher educational institution to sign up, as the reach of the Code expands into new investor groups.
Female investors remain underrepresented on investment committees. Signatories report an average of 32% female representation in their investment teams and 24% on their investment committees.
Reflecting the challenging economic backdrop, Angel group signatories recorded a decrease in the level of funding being requested by all-female teams as compared to 2021. This aligned with a fall in the requests made by their all-male counterparts.
The Investing in Women Code was founded in 2019 as a landmark government-lead initiative in response to the Rose Review’s findings that a lack of funding continues to be one of the most significant barriers to women seeking to effectively scale a business.
The Code commits signatories to:
Adopt best practices to improve female entrepreneurs’ access to finance needed to start and grow successful businesses
Nominate a member of the senior leadership team responsible for supporting equality in all interactions with entrepreneurs
Provide annual funding data disaggregated by gender to DBT, based on agreed guidelines. Providing data and analysis helps to promote greater transparency across the industry, highlighting where measures are working and where further measures may be needed.
News in Brief
Financial news
The fear index Vix has dropped to 3 year low as S&P 500 has entered bull market. Up 20%+ since an October low.
To put the "Magnificent 7" into perspective: 7 Stocks in the S&P 500 (AAPL, MSFT, GOOGL, AMZN, NVDA, TSLA, META) have returned 53% YTD. The other 493 stocks have been flat.
Mind the gap: while Big Tech from the US has regained strength this year, Big Tech in China is more and more now becoming Small Tech. The Nasdaq Dragon Index w/Chinese stocks is still 68% below its all-time high, the Nasdaq 100 only 14%.
Goldman says S&P 500 is undervalued because of AI boom. Using a dividend discount model & economists’ assumption that widespread AI adoption could boost productivity growth by 1.5pp per year over 10y period, Goldman estimates that S&P 500 CAGR EPS over the next 20yrs would be 5.4%, compared w/+4.9% that model currently assumes, & would support an S&P 500 fair value 9% above today.
Chancellor responds to news UK likely to avoid recession but will have one of highest inflation rates among G20.
UK house prices experience annual fall for first time in decade, data shows. Price of average home in May was 1% lower than in same month last year, according to Halifax figures.
Mind the difference: Apple stock price has hit a fresh ATH but not Apple's stock market cap because the tech company has bought back a full 617m shares since the beginning of 2022.
Apple hits record high ahead of VR headset unveiling, up 41% YTD.
Goldman Sachs expects China to overtake the US not in this decade but around 2035, while India should catch up by 2075.
Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs
Bitcoin price can gain 60% if ‘textbook’ chart pattern confirms. Bitcoin is attempting to cement an inverse head-and-shoulders pattern, which could spark a “sprint” to $40,000.
Vitalik Buterin calls for three mandatory 'transitions' for Ethereum. Layer 2 scaling, wallet security enhancement, and privacy measures.
The US has charged the biggest crypto trading platform in the country, Coinbase with operating illegally, widening its crackdown on the industry.
Binance, Coinbase head to court, and the SEC labels 67 crypto-securities.The regulator pressed 13 charges against Binance on June 5, including those involving unregistered offerings and sales of tokens, and failing to register as an exchange or broker-dealer. In the six months after FTX’s bankruptcy, SEC crypto-related enforcement actions rose 183%.
Robinhood moves to cut support for Cardano, Polygon and Solana. Robinhood opted to axe three tokens after the SEC listed them as unregistered securities in their lawsuits against Coinbase and Binance.
Crypto.com winding down U.S. institutional business. The move won't affect the company's retail operations.
CFTC wins Ooki DAO case, setting precedent that DAOs can be held liable. The first-ever case against a decentralised autonomous organisation establishes that DAOs can be held legally liable for their actions.
The Purse Podcast
We cover the following in our conversation:
How Holly achieved financial independence early on in life
Why money is often a complicated subject
The money mindset and why money habits are a key part of wealth building
What to consider if as a woman you are single or unattached
What women should consider before getting married so their finances are secure
How to think about money and investing if you have kids
And how to divorce well financially
Why working with a financial coach is a good idea
And Holly shares her final thoughts on how women should build wealth and why this is important.
Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+
Coffee Break? Read This
We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.
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The Purse provides content for informational purposes only, we do not provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.
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