Ireland’s women-led startup sector is set to receive its first dedicated annual benchmark tracking the experiences, ambitions, scaling activity, and investment sentiment of female founders and angel investors.
AwakenHub, Ireland’s only all-island community for women founders, and its sister organisation AwakenAngels, the island’s first and only women-led angel investment syndicate and community, are to launch The AwakenHub & AwakenAngels Women Founders & Investors Index. The new annual survey will provide insights into the realities facing women building and scaling businesses across the island of Ireland and internationally, as well as the angel investors who back them, including the Irish diaspora.
SheVentures
The index will be formally launched to delegates at the upcoming SheVentures 2026 Summit, at Lusty Beg Island Resort from June 7-9, and supported by Patron Partner AIB. The event is also being supported by British Business Bank, Ulster Bank, InterTradeIreland, Too Good to Be True, NI Space Office, Clarendon Fund Managers and Matrix NI. The 2.5-day summit is returning for the first time since selling out in 2024. It offers founders, investors, and business leaders unparalleled access to 30+ key speakers, along with peers and experts, as they remain together on the Co Fermanagh island for the duration of the event.
AwakenHub and AwakenAngels intend for their new index to capture the real experiences of women founders across all sectors, including founder confidence, access to and barriers to capital, scaling challenges and ambition, and their experiences of support programmes. It will also track active and aspiring angel investor sentiment and training opportunities, access to deal flow for people interested in backing Irish women-led businesses, and decisions by diaspora investors in the sector.
Findings
After launching, the survey will remain live until September to accommodate the many competing demands women founders face, including supporting children through the summer exam period and managing childcare responsibilities during school holidays. The findings will be published in the autumn.
Speaking ahead of the launch, Clare McGee cofounder and CEO of AwakenHub & AwakenAngels said: “Next week, we’re preparing to welcome some 250 founders and investors for an incredible 2.5 days at SheVentures 2026. The real value of what happens there has always been what happens beyond the stage. It’s the access, the relationships, the sharing of know-how, and the honest conversations about what people are experiencing while building and investing in businesses that prove so transformational. We want The AwakenHub & AwakenAngels Women Founders & Investors Index to capture those kinds of insights, along with the challenges and opportunities that are still often missing from the wider conversation.
“SheVentures is only being made possible through the support of our partners, who all believe in the long-term potential of women-led enterprise across Ireland and beyond. I’m delighted to announce AIB as our Patron Partner, who, having worked with us from the beginning of our journey, has now reinforced its commitment to backing this community for the long game. That kind of sustained belief changes what’s possible for the founders and investors in our ecosystem. Women founders remain one of the most underrepresented yet highest-potential groups in entrepreneurship and investment. It’s still incredibly frustrating that despite being the founders delivering stronger capital efficiency, lower failure rates, more sustainable growth, and very strong investor returns when properly funded, they are still securing only a small share of venture and angel investment across Ireland, the UK, Europe, and globally.
“It’s time to start capturing the data and voices around all of that situation in a structured and parallel way, annual way, including those of women founders themselves, active angel investors in women-led businesses, aspiring investors who may be interested but remain on the sidelines, and diaspora investors in markets like the US, whom we meet on our trade missions. We hope this new index will do that and create a clearer picture around the barriers, types of support, opportunities and gaps that exist or need to exist.
“We’ve seen how valuable such information has been in the Tech sector through the surveys produced by TechIreland and Scale Ireland. Now is the time to do that for all women founders and investors. No index will be perfect in year one, and meaningful longitudinal data only becomes valuable over time, but we have to start somewhere, and we believe this is an important first step.”
Voice of investors
The new index will also examine the growth and potential of women angel investors as a vital source of early-stage capital for women-led businesses across the island.
Denise McQuaid, cofounder and Director of Investment, at AwakenAngels, added: “We’re entering the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in history, with women set to control an increasingly significant proportion of global wealth and investment decision-making over the next decade. Yet we still have limited insight into how angel investors of all genders are backing women-led businesses, why they make the decisions they do, what sectors they back, and what barriers are preventing more capital flowing into these founders.
“In AwakenAngels, in only two years since deploying our first ticket, and on a relatively small outreach budget, we have seen enormous interest from people wanting to back women-led businesses who were never previously told this was an option available to them. In the last year alone, we have doubled our syndicate membership to 134 members, 90% of whom are women, with 12% based outside Ireland. We have also provided training to more than 100 aspiring or first-time angel investors, with a waiting list for upcoming programmes.
“The opportunity to grow the economies of both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland by increasing the number of angel investors backing ambitious women-led businesses is significant. We need to better capture and understand these perspectives so policymakers, founders, investors, and the wider financial ecosystem can build more effective pathways, training, and opportunities for the years ahead.
After launching at SheVentures 2026, the inaugural AwakenHub & AwakenAngels Women Founders & Investors Index will be distributed directly to members and subscribers of both organisations and will also be available for completion on the AwakenHub and AwakenAngels websites. The findings will be published in Autumn 2026.
SheVentures
A limited number of tickets are still available for SheVentures 2026: The Courage Edition at SheVentures.co.uk.
Confirmed speakers for the summit include former US ambassador to Ireland Claire Cronin; Sir Tim Smit, KBE, founder of The Eden Project; Maria Frizelle Roberts, one of the US’s most respected transformation and business leaders; Guinness World Record Holder and extreme swimmer Nuala Moore; Six Nations Rugby Chair, Ronan Dunne; broadcaster and entrepreneur Áine Kerr, networking expert Kelly Hoey, women’s health and sexual wellbeing tech expert, Dominnique Karetsos, and influencer Olivia McVeigh.
A series of themed Cabins will also be in operation throughout the event, offering delegates access to the kind of high-value conversations with leading experts that are rarely possible at larger conferences. Cabin themes will include opportunities within the rapidly growing space sector, practical business masterclasses, founder wellbeing and burnout, and long-term wealth planning for women founders and investors.
Designing Your US Playbook: Capital, Customers and Courage, will focus on helping founders understand how to successfully enter and scale within the US market, with advice from speakers already working stateside. Shelf-Ready: Building Brands That Scale, will offer practical insight for product-based businesses seeking to grow through retail, e-commerce and distribution channels. A further Cabin focused on AI, investment and founder funding journeys will tackle the “real-world truths behind the hype”, while Tell It Bold: Stories, Screens and Standing Out will explore how founders can use podcasts, video, media and AI-driven content creation to grow visibility and attract customers and investment.
Broadcaster Lynette Fay will return as MC, while comedian Emma Doran will entertain guests at the event’s gala dinner with her own courage insights.
Further details on the full programme, and day pass tickets, are available online at sheventures.co.uk