The first all-female GP team to win a British Business Bank ECF mandate just closed £45M, and its medtech portfolio is already in the US — TFN

THENA Capital has closed its inaugural £45 million Fund I: the first all-female GP-led fund to receive backing from the British Business Bank’s Enterprise Capital Funds programme.

In its first year, the fund has backed five UK medtech companies, one of which has already launched in the US in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic, and another that has received MHRA CE marking for IVD status.

The LP base includes Baroness Martha Lane Fox, chair of BlackRock Switzerland, and senior executives from GSK, Novartis, AstraZeneca, Carlyle, and Hellman & Friedman: over 50% of whom are women.

The structural argument for specialist medtech capital in the UK has been made many times. THENA Capital is doing things differently, with five portfolio companies in its first year, a Mayo Clinic collaboration, an MHRA regulatory approval, and an NHS Innovation Accelerator selection before the fund has even finished deploying.

London-based VC firm has closed Fund I at £45 million, following a first close of £27 million in March 2025. The fund is anchored by the British Business Bank’s Enterprise Capital Funds programme, making THENA the first all-female General Partner-led fund to receive ECF backing.