Cambridge is one of the world’s most enduring innovation engines—home to over 5,000 knowledge-intensive companies, £2.3B raised in 2024, and a seed-to-Series A conversion rate that surpasses the Bay Area. It’s a place where ideas scale fast, and where institutions, capital, and talent converge at uncommon density.

 

The metrics are well-known: Female founders raise less capital, access fewer networks, and receive less institutional support—yet consistently outperform on capital efficiency, resilience, and long-term value. These aren’t outliers; they’re indicators of what’s possible when innovation is resourced differently.

Even a modest shift in funding and infrastructure could yield outsized returns. The opportunity is clear—and measurable.

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We see a significant opportunity in this: to design founder infrastructure that reflects how ventures are actually built today. Cambridge—with its dense intersection of research, capital, and company formation—is an ideal testbed. More connective systems—peer-led, trust-based, data-informed—can unlock compounding growth for both founders and the ecosystem.

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The Cambridge Female Founders Network (CFFN) is a founder-led network building this model in real time: creating the connective tissue to activate new capital flows, peer-driven networks, and deeper engagement across the ecosystem and beyond.