The initiative – led by Channel 4 ’ s consumer investment arm , Channel 4 Ventures - is informed by new research which shows that founders securing significant investment historically fall into a narrow range of elite profiles .

Untapped seeks to address this - and generate new revenues for Channel 4 - by investing in high growth businesses led by founders with a broader range of profiles based on factors including gender , education , socio-economic history , race and ethnicity , location and employment history .

The strategy is based on a new framework which will determine founders ’ profiles across a range of criteria . It will enable Channel 4 to identify more potential investment opportunities in early-stage businesses led by a broader range of founders . These include women , founders educated outside of a small subset of institutions , companies based across the UK , people from ethnically diverse backgrounds and entrepreneurs from outside the start-up ecosystem .

Channel 4 Ventures is committing that a significant proportion of potential deals taken to its investment committee for approval each year will be in businesses led by such founders . In doing so , it aims to channel millions of pounds of media value into a new wave of entrepreneurs – driving investment across the UK and supporting the development of new consumer propositions and innovation .

The initiative will grow Channel 4 Ventures ’ portfolio , supporting Channel 4 ’ s Fast Forward strategy to ramp up new , diversified sources of revenues as it becomes a genuinely digital-first public service streamer .

“ Untapped will enable Channel 4 to invest in and incubate high-growth businesses , delivering significant commercial returns to drive forward Channel 4 ’ s distinctive remit ,” explains Vinay Solanki ( pictured ), head of Channel 4 Ventures . “ The data implies that a wide range of talented founders leading attractive

“ Untapped will enable Channel 4 to invest in and incubate high-growth businesses , delivering significant commercial returns to drive forward Channel 4 ’ s distinctive remit ”

commercial organisations are being overlooked by the current ecosystem and we are committed to identifying and backing them . More broadly , Untapped can be a catalyst to grow the UK consumer investment landscape and encourage others to follow in the investment space .”

Channel 4 Ventures benchmarked the profiles of hundreds of founders that secured investments valuing their companies at £ 100 million (€ 118m ) or more since 2013 . The data is based on analysis of founders ’ own disclosures of their race and ethnicity , gender , education background , employment history and company base – via analysis of publicly available data from LinkedIn and Pitchbook . It reveals that these founders come from a narrow section of society :

• 94 % of founders were men , despite men representing only 41 % of all UK graduates .

• Founders are fifty-one times more likely to have graduated from an Oxbridge university or its US equivalents , than a graduate of a university outside the top 100 institutions globally .

• Consumer companies in London , Oxford , or Cambridge are 11 times more likely to have raised a valuation of £ 100m + than a company located anywhere else in the UK .

• White university graduates are ten times more likely to have founded a consumer company at a valuation of £ 100m + than a black graduate , and nearly twice as likely as an Asian graduate .

• 67 % of founders were either previous founders or came from within the traditional start-up / investor ecosystem . After receiving proposals , Channel 4 Ventures will analyse founders ’ self-submitted data to identify entrepreneurs ’ profiles . Channel 4 Ventures will run a series of annual Untapped roadshows across the UK . The broadcaster says that Untapped connects the best of its commercial expertise to high-growth ventures across the UK . Businesses partnering with Channel 4 Ventures will be able to access Channel 4 Sales ’ sales experts who are based across the UK , providing start-ups with access to the transformative power of TV advertising .

By embedding its insights around founder profiles into Channel 4 Ventures ’ decision-making , Untapped is designed to continue Channel 4 ’ s track record of advancing representation and follows initiatives including Black in Business , Diversity in Advertising Award and workplace policies focused on women ’ s health .