101 London Women in Tech to Follow on Twitter

It’s no secret that the startup world and tech sector can often look like a big fraternity. And when you dig into the data you can see why. Globally, only 10% of investor money goes to women-led ventures. Even in tech hubs like the U.K., the second-largest European startup community after Berlin, male entrepreneurs are 86% more likely to receive VC funding than women and 56% more likely to secure angel investment.

What isn’t dismal is the number of women in tech and the number of startups women are leading particularly in London. Over the past 18-months I’ve been doing my own research. I have talked with close to 2,000 women-led startups and investors through our Women Startup Challenges across the US and Europe. And here’s what I’ve learned:

1. There is no shortage of women-led ventures who are launching game changing products.
2. London is blooming with women-led startups and networks.
3. Investors have a pipeline problem.

The majority of VC firms are comprised of male partners. That’s a problem because men tend to network with other men in their network. They also rely on warm intros from startup founders they have worked with, who tend to be men. We call this the mirrorocracy. You fund people who look like and think like you. And that’s just not cutting it.

Bottom line, investors need to focus on being intentional about diversifying their networks if we’re going to find startups to help solve the world’s toughest problems facing our communities nationally and globally.

If you can’t find women-led startups in your pipeline that are doing interesting, noteworthy, and innovative things in tech, we can help you fix that. Here’s a list of 101 women in tech to follow on Twitter, especially if you are interested in the tech hub in or near London.

And if you are in London on May 3rd, be sure to check out Women Startup Challenge Europe at City Hall where 10 of the best early stage women-led startups will pitch Martha Lane Fox, Founder of Doteveryone; Marie-Laure Sauty de Chalon, CEO of auFeminin.com; and Rajeeb Dey, Founder of Enternships.com and CEO of Learnerbly for €50,000 in cash, courtesy of the Craig Newmark Philanthropic Fund, and $210,000 in cloud services, courtesy of IBM.

There’s a lot more women that should be on this list, and I’d like to encourage you to continue adding to it. Feel free to post your name, background, and Twitter handle in the comments.

Founders and Techies

1. Amali de Alwis, CEO @CodeFirstGirls
2. June Angelides, Founder @MumsinTech
3. Emily Atkinson, Software Engineer @MOO, Managing Director @DevelopHerUK
4. Gen Ashley, Director @WomenWhoCode, Lead #Google @WomenTechMakers
5. Lizzie Barclay, Head of Marketing @Yahoo UK
6. Alice Bentinck, Co-Founder of Entrepreneur First
7. Dr. Sue Black, Founder of #techmums and Savvify
8. Emily Brooke, Founder and CEO of Blaze
9. Jessica Butcher, Co-Founder of Blippar
10. Emma Cerrone, Co-founder and Partner of @freeformers_uk,
11. Claire Cockerton, CEO of Plexal, Founder of ENTIQ & Innovate Finance, Co-Creator of Level39
12. Sherry Coutu, Co-Founder of the Scale-Up Institute
13. Francesca Dean, @GoogleforEntrep Program lead @Campuslondon
14. Alex Depledge, Co-Founder of @buildpathhq
15. Sarah drinkwater, Head @GoogleUK’s @campuslondon, cofounder @thekilnco
16. Amandine FLACHS, Communications and Events Manager @RealitiesCentre, Co-founder at UNFOLD
17. Martha Lane Fox, Co-Founder of Lastminute.com and Founder of Doteveryone
18. Jenny Griffiths, Founder of @snaptech
19. Rashada Harry, Founder @YFYAUK
20. Donna Herdsman, Mentor, Speaker, Former @HewlettPackard, @IBM
21. Michelle Hua, Founder & CEO MadeWithGlove & Co-founder @Women_Wearables
22. Vicky Hunter, COO at 3beards and @silicondrinkabt
23. A-Marie Imafidon, Co-Founder, Head Stemette & CEO of @Stemettes
24. Sara Kelly, Senior Policy Officer for Technology, Greater London Authority
25. Leanne Kemp, Founder of Everledger
26. Samantha Kingston, Co-Founder @VirtualUmbrella
27. Tanya Laird, Founder Digital Jam
28. Jessie Link, Head of engineering at Twitter UK
29. Silja Litvin, CEO @PsycApps
30. Lu Li, Founder and CEO of Blooming Founders
31. Yuelin Li, Data Strategist at ASI Data Science
32. Kate McLaughlin, Co-Founder and CEO of We Got POP
33. Ivana Ojukwu, Founder and COO of SeeFashion
34. Jessica Okoro, Founder and Lead STEMmer of the Award Winning @BeScienceSTEM
35. Kathryn Parsons, Co-Founder and CEO of Decoded
36. Sammy Payne, Co-Founder and COO of Open Bionics
37. Yashu Reddy, Director at babylon health
38. Anjali Ramachandran, Co-Founder of @adaslist
39. Sharmadean Reid, Founder of @wahnails @futuregirlcorp
40. Justine Roberts, Founder and CEO of Mumsnet and Gramsnet
41. Sanchita Saha, Founder and CEO of @citysocializer
42. Dee Saigal, CEO & Creative Director @EraseAllKittens
43. Salone Sehgal, CEO of TrulySocial
44. Jots Sehmbi, Director of IT at University College London (UCL) and Co-Founder of IT consultancy, BlueGen Group
45. Shilpa Shah, Director for Delivery models and Leader of the Deloitte Women in Technology Network
46. Anna Shipman, Open Source Lead and Technical Architect at Government Digital Service
47. Emma Sinclair MBE, Co-Founder of Enterprise Jungle and the youngest person to IPO on the London Stock Exchange
48. Yodit Standon, Founder & CEO at OpenSensors.io. Note, you can follow Yodit on LinkedIn.
49. Victoria Stoyanova, Community architect. LDN host @CreativeMorning Adviser at @secondhome_io
50. Kristina Tauchmannova, Partnerships Manager at @TechCityUK
51. Jenni Tennison, CEO at Open Data Institute
52. Kate Unsworth, Co-Founder and CEO of Vinaya
53. Elizabeth Varley, Founder of TechHub
54. Angelique Vu, Developer at the Financial Times
55. Cathy White, Founder of CEW Communications, Organizer of GeekGirl Meetup UK, and Former Head of Communications at Tech City UK
56. Pip Wilson, Co-Founder and CEO of amicable apps
57. Colleen Wong, Founder of Techsixtyfour
58. Sarah Wood, Co-Founder and CEO of Unruly
59. Rosario Gª de Zúñiga, Co-Founder & CTO at Headliner

Tech Press

1. Julie Adenuga, Global Presenter for Beats 1
2. Cat Albeanu, International Editor at Journalism News
3. Lynsey Barber, Tech Editor at City A.M.
4. Georgie Barrat,Tech journalist & C5’s @TheGadgetShow
5. Holly Brockwell, Founder of Gadgette
6. Marija Butkovic, Co-founder @Women_Wearables and co-founder of Kisha Smart Umbrella (getkisha.com, @GetKisha) and Digital Marketing and PR Strategist, Journalist and Blogger.
7. Becca Caddy, Freelance Tech Writer for WIRED, The Observer, The Sunday Times
8. Kira Coley, UK Correspondent for Marine Technology News and ECO Magazine
9. Sophie Curtis, Technology and Science Editor at the Daily Mirror
10. Anna Doble, Digital Editor at BBC Newsbeat
11. Dionne Condor-Farrell, Java developer creating bespoke Java web apps 4 public transport co
12. Jacqui Gibbons, Journalist at Time Inc. UK
13. Janine Gibson, Editor-in-Chief of Buzzfeed UK
14. Agamoni Gosh, Senior Tech Reporter at IB Times UK
15. Charlotte Jee, Editor @techworldnews
16. Jamillah Knowles, Online and Social Media Editor at Reuters UK
17. Yessi Bello Perez, Senior Reporter @TechCityNews
18. Becca Lipman, Editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit
19. Kiki Loizou, Small Business Editor at the Sunday Times
20. Ingrid Lunden, Writer at TechCrunch
21. Gemma Milne, Tech & Science Commentator, Co-founder @sciencedisrupt
22. Harriet Minter, Founder of The Guardian’s Women in Leadership vertical and Host of talkRADIO’s Badass Women’s Hour
23. Katia Moskvitch, Editor-in-Chief of Professional Engineering and Columnist at BBC Future
24. Olivia Solon, Journalist covering tech for @guardian
25. Emily Spaven, Editor at Tech City News
26. Vicki Turk, Tech Editor at New Scientist
27. Katharine Viner, Editor-in-Chief of Guardian News and Media

Investors

1. Angelica Anton, Founder and managing partner at SILK Ventures. Angelica’s Twitter account is private but you can follow her on LinkedIn.
2. Anna Boffetta, Early Stage Investor @balderton
3. Laurel Bowden, Partner at 83North. Note, you can follow Laurel on LinkedIn.
4. Ophelia Brown, VC at LocalGlobe
5. Eileen Burbidge MBE of Passion Capital
6. Camilla Dolan, Investment Director at MMC Ventures
7. Tracy Dorée, Founding partner at Spring Partners
8. Avid Larizadeh Duggan, General partner at Google Ventures
9. Nancy Fechnay, Partner at Flight Ventures
10. Anna Hyde, Partner at Bethnal Green Ventures
11. Paris Petgrave, Co-founder and CEO @weloveworkltd Founder of @Rareseedcapital.
12. Kim Pham, VC at @Frontline
13. Sonali De Rycker, VC at Accel Partners
14. Reshma Sohoni, Co-Founder of SeedCamp
15. Sitar Teli, Managing partner at Connect Ventures
16. Francesca Warner, Associate at Downing Ventures. Note, you can follow Francesca on LinkedIn.
17. Wendy Tan White General Partner Entrepreneur First @EFldn. Former CEO and Co-Founder @Moonfruit

Special thanks to Justyn Hintze and Lauren Maffeo at Women Who Tech who helped compile this list of awesome women in tech.

*Note: This is an ongoing series highlighting women in tech across the world — 100+ at a time. The series addresses the two questions I’m constantly asked. “Where are all of the women in tech?” and “Where are all of the women startup founders?”