Imperial is an innovation hub for climate-smart solutions, with many amazing female founders and innovators coming through Undaunted’s programmes to lead the way in deep tech to tackle the greatest challenge of our generation.
For International Women’s Day 2025 and Women at Imperial Week, we asked some of Undaunted’s leading female innovators two key questions:
- What needs to happen to accelerate action and investment for women in sustainable innovation?
- What is your message on why accelerating action for women in sustainable innovation is vital for us all?
Rhea Thomas – founder of Seasprout, a bio-material innovation that transforms shrimp shell waste into bio-degradable products for the horticulture and agriculture industry.
Greater visibility for women innovators, increased funding, and more women in business leadership are essential. Let’s dismantle outdated systems, challenge bias in decision-making, and build strong support networks that uplift women.
Investors need to rewrite the narrative. Women-led businesses consistently outperform, yet funding remains disproportionately low.
We need more capital for female founders, less bias in pitch rooms, and a firm commitment to investing in impact-driven, diverse entrepreneurs.
Dr Maria G Vigliotti – founder of Fidata Limited, an AI climate tool.
We need more women-specific start-ups and acceleration programmes highlighting that entrepreneurship and innovation are viable careers for women.
And we need the media to shout out more about successful women entrepreneurs who’ve made it from Anne Boden, who founded Starling Bank, to Rebeca Minguela, Founder and CEO of Clarity AI.
Women need to be emboldened to deliver assertive narratives when asking for money, as we tend to be less brazen than men are.
We also need more women investors to highlight how women-led business often perform better than those led by men (see the Alison Rose Review).
If you’re a woman with an innovation idea – don’t overthink it, just try. There is so much more support for women today than 10 years ago. More needs to be done – but the world needs you.
Beren Kayali, Co-Founder of Deploy Tech, which produces portable concrete water tanks.
We need more women CEOs, CFOs, and CTOs. Women deserve better opportunities to rise to leadership through mentorship, equal pay, fair hiring practices, and support for work-life balance. Workplace-culture must change so women’s voices and leadership styles are valued as much as men’s.
We need more venture capitalists and female investors launching funds focused on female founders. Female-led startups receive a small fraction of total VC funding.
Emily Jane Taylor – CEO and Co-Founder of Sages, which creates sustainable, non-toxic dyes from food waste as an alternative to synthetic dyes.
Investors question female founders more harshly than their male counterparts. Investors need to assess whether they would ask the same questions, in the same way, of a male innovator as they do of female founders.
Companies with gender-diverse leadership have been proven to outperform their male-led counterparts in terms of profitability, resilience, and innovation. Yet, despite this clear evidence from the European Institute for Innovation and Technology, female-led startups receive less than 15% of venture capital funding.
Innovation is the key to solving the world’s most pressing challenges. However, when half of the population is systematically underrepresented in leadership and funding, we are missing out on a vast reservoir of talent, creativity, and perspectives with the potential to drive groundbreaking solutions.
Tvisha Teli – Co-Founder and CPO of Ventrix, a company that builds decentralised carbon capture units that harvest excess building resources and reduce direct emissions.
To accelerate action for women innovators, mentorship from other females, who understand the unique challenges and offer guidance on work and life, makes all the difference.
When pitching to VCs men will get the “unicorn” questions, and women are asked: “What happens if it all fails?” This vicious circle will reduce when women see more women leading.
For the past century, women have been trying to squeeze into a male-dominated industry, often disguising themselves to fit in. This isn’t just about changing the questions asked, it’s about creating a better ecosystem that uplifts women at every stage.
We’re facing urgent environmental challenges and cannot afford to leave any talent untapped. The future of our planet depends on all of us – every brain, every idea, every perspective.
Chloe So – Co-founder and CEO of PulpaTronics, which produces low-cost, recyclable radio-frequency ID tags to clothing retailers.
Promoting STEM, climate and entrepreneurship to young women through education and awareness is SO important.
The more females there are in leadership and investment roles, the more inclusive decision making can be, which can lead to more diverse investment opportunities.
Diverse thinking is what ultimately propels any type of innovation forward, so it’s critical that more women are given more opportunities to sit on corporate boards, lead innovation teams, and drive impact.
Jeanne Begon-Lours – Co-Founder of Tera Mira, which produces a bio-based alternative to synthetic elastane for stretch material clothing and textiles.
The dominant business mindset has traditionally prioritized short-term profits, rapid scaling, and competition. But many female founders approach business differently.
We need to value relationships over transactions, collaboration over competition, and ensure business success doesn’t come at the cost of people or the planet.
Collaboration is key to drive systemic change – we’re working with brands and manufacturers to create guidelines for sustainable material blending and non-toxic dyes, engaging with the waste management industry to ensure we meet compostability standards and avoid greenwashing, and partnering with coastal communities to ensure responsible sourcing.
Renuka Ramanujam and Dr Marie Rapin, CEO and Chief Scientific Officer of HUID – which produces plastic packaging from onion skins – to protect and preserve food.
Relieving women of the expectation to be perfect, and giving them positive, empowering support is crucial – not just telling them it’s harder to progress/ raise money/ build an innovation because they’re women.
Investment, especially at early stage, is focused on who is in the business and whether investors think they can make it. How aware are investors of their own internal bias and what action are they taking to combat it? Are they trained for this? Do they have equality targets that they are actually encouraged to achieve?
Elizabeth Lee – Co-Founder of Carbon Cell, which produces a sustainable alternative to traditional polymer-based foams – made from biochar.
Implicit biases are part of the reason women receive less total funding, less funding per round, and smaller first rounds than men. Two examples:
First, women (particularly those in STEM) face the challenge of assumed incompetence by men, meaning they may get questioned more than men on their technical credentials.
Second, the persona investors want to see can often be one that’s aggressive, extroverted, and stubbornly ‘visionary’ (think Steve Jobs or Elon Musk) which may not be the way a female founder presents herself story.
These implicit biases need to be discussed more to address the funding gap.
Diana Epel, Co-founder of Sealeo, which develops technology to reduce vaccine spoilage – as 50% of vaccines are wasted globally.
We need to dismantle systemic barriers that limit access to funding, industry partnerships, and lab space.
We need more women in leadership that can support other women. There is immense power in community, and while the broader system plays catch-up, we must do everything we can to lift each other up and create the spaces that don’t yet exist.
We also need more women in decision-making roles at VC firms, more gender-conscious investment strategies, and a shift in how risk is perceived when backing female-led ventures. Transparency in funding data, targeted grant programs, and investors held accountable for where their money goes will help level the playing field.
If we’re serious about solving systemic global challenges like climate change, we need more women at the table, not as a diversity checkbox, but because the data proves that we drive real change.
Elissa Brunato – Founder and CEO of Radiant Matter, a female-dominated team who produce naturally shimmering, non-toxic, biodegradable biomaterials for the clothing and textiles industry.
Quite simply, women need greater access to funding, mentorship, and industry networks that champion diverse perspectives.
To accelerate investment in female founders, investors must actively seek out and back women-led businesses. It’s time for investors to recognise the outsized impact and innovation that women founders bring.
When we uplift women in sustainable innovation, we accelerate action and positive change for everyone. Diverse leadership leads to stronger solutions for the planet and a more inclusive, resilient economy.
