New company has been co-founded by two leaders in the digital and business world, Debbie Wosskow, CEO at Love Home Swap, and Anna Jones, CEO at Hearst Magazines UK
London, UK – October 24, 2016, — AllBright, the first funding platform of its kind, today announces its launch and details its mission to discover, fund and support the UK’s best female entrepreneurs from start-ups to established businesses through its innovative business model.
The ground-breaking AllBright platform combines an angel network (AllBright Angel Network) with a crowdfunding platform (AllBright Crowd) as well as providing access to vital business resources and learning via its academy (AllBright Academy).
AllBright not only promises to unearth, fund and support outstanding female talent in the UK, it also offers an attractive option for investors by providing access to the best female-led businesses at the same time as delivering sophisticated and efficient tax breaks.
This approach and business model has been launched in response to the funding gap between female-led and male-led businesses. Recent research shows that companies with women in leadership positions deliver strong returns, yet the majority of funding is directed at male-led companies with only 10% of global venture capital funds directed at female-led businesses[1].
AllBright is co-founded by two well respected female leaders in the digital and business world, Debbie Wosskow, founder and CEO at Love Home Swap, and Anna Jones, CEO at Hearst Magazines UK. Together, they understand all aspects of a business’ life cycle and have a track record of launching and scaling businesses.
Co-founder, Debbie Wosskow, comments: “There is some exceptional female business talent in the UK just waiting to be discovered and accelerated. I’ve been on the journey they are making and understand acutely the difference accessing the right funding and support can make, as do our network of angel investors.
“AllBright delivers on two fronts – not only do we get to ‘give back’ investing in and sharing our knowledge with the next generation, but there is also a real financial opportunity for our investors to benefit from the untapped asset class of some of the UK’s best female entrepreneurs.”
Picking up on what companies need to grow and drive change, co-founder, Anna Jones, comments: “AllBright isn’t just about providing the capital, we understand that for businesses to scale they need the confidence that comes from having access to the relevant skills, technology, knowledge and people. Our combined experience and network means we have the ability to tackle every area a business needs to thrive from the start, super-charging both the companies and their executive teams.
“This isn’t just a win for existing businesses and investors, AllBright can also play a critical role for the British economy. Recent figures show that if every woman who wanted to run her own business, started a business then it could release a possible £10.1 billion boost to the UK economy[2].”
The AllBright model is supported and backed by an advisory board consisting of some of the most prestigious names in business including:
Lord Davies of Abersoch CBE, Chairman of Corsair
Lou Cordwell, CEO Magnetic North
Lord Chadlington, Serial Entrepreneur
Tammy Einav, CEO Adam & Eve
Ann Roughead, NED Columbia, Threadneedle
Sherry Coutu CBE, Executive Chair of Founders4Schools
Rosemary Leith, Investor & World Wide Web Foundation
Benjamin Samuels, CRO Homestrings
Alexandra Chong, Founder Lulu
To become an AllBright investor or to enquire about funding and support, please visit http://allbright.co/.
[1] Source: The CrunchBase Women in Venture Report (19th April 2016) – https://techcrunch.com/2016/04
/19/the-first-comprehensive-st
udy-on-women-in-venture-capita
l/
[2] Source: Facebook and Federation of Small Business Research (26th May 2016) – http://www.fsb.org.uk/media-ce
ntre/latest-news/2016/05/26/fu
ture-uk-economic-growth-depend
s-on-women-entrepreneurs