'The diverse pipeline UK needs': Aquis IPO Academy aims to boost number of female leaders

A spokesman said the academy, which has been established in partnership with Barclays Eagle Labs, provides a long-term investment in the UK's growth economy.

The spokesman added: “It draws on the expertise of Barclays Eagle Labs and SIX, which acquired Aquis in 2025, combining domestic scale-up expertise with European IPO Academy experience.

"The first cohort is made up of 25 UK growth companies, half of which are founded by women. This representation helps address a persistent imbalance; despite the strength of female entrepreneurship across the UK, female-founded businesses have accounted for only around 7 per cent of UK high-growth IPOs since 2011.

"Since its inception, the academy has set out to achieve 50 per cent female-founded participation to help address this imbalance, ensure more female founders have equal access to the same capital and support needed to scale, and improve diversity at the point of market entry.

"The inaugural cohort includes female-founded businesses spanning apparel, food and drink, health, IT, medtech and data platforms, demonstrating the depth and breadth of women-founded businesses actively looking to explore public markets as a route to accelerating growth.”

David Stevens, CEO of Aquis, said: "The launch of the first cohort demonstrates beyond doubt that the UK has no shortage of ambitious, high-quality growth businesses.

"The challenge is to ensure more of them see public markets as a viable route to their next stage of growth.

"The IPO Academy is about backing such businesses early and giving founders the tools they need to understand their growth options and engage with public markets.

“SIX, which owns Aquis, already runs a successful IPO Academy in Switzerland, alongside several training and growth programs for early-stage companies in Spain, and we are delighted to now bring this experience to the UK with the Aquis IPO Academy.”

“We're delighted to welcome the first cohort of UK growth companies, and are particularly pleased to have delivered on our ambition for 50% female-founded participation from the outset. This is exactly the kind of diverse pipeline of future public companies the UK capital markets need."

Abdul Qureshi, Head of Barclays Business Bank, said: “This impressive inaugural cohort highlights the strength, diversity and ambition of the UK's next generation of growth businesses."