Amelia and Lydia Miller, Classes 2015 & 2016

Amelia and I started this journey by witnessing something close to home: our mum’s struggle to return to work after a career break. Despite her experience and qualifications, she faced significant setbacks, ultimately taking a lower-paying position that didn’t match her skills. Seeing what she went through was tough to watch, and we soon realised it was part of a much larger issue. In the UK, this phenomenon is known as the “motherhood penalty”- which accounts for 80% of the gender pay gap, disproportionately affecting women who have paused their careers to care for their families.

Determined to create a solution and solve the gender pay gap, we began researching the needs of women returners, spoke with potential users, and mapped out what an ideal return-to-work platform might look like. The result was ivee- a community-first, tech-powered platform built to support women returning to work without having to take a step down. Our platform offers AI-powered skills training, a marketplace for roles tailored to women returners, and a robust community where members can connect and support each other through a time often filled with uncertainty and self-doubt. Our revenue model focuses on B2B partnerships, enabling companies to tap into a vast pool of experienced, highly skilled women who might otherwise remain out of reach.

To make this vision a reality, though, we needed funding. Securing SEIS (Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme) certification in the UK was essential, as it would allow us to attract angel investors through tax incentives, so we could begin building the foundation of our business. But gaining SEIS required capital we simply didn’t have yet.

That’s when the LEH BeBold grant became our turning point. This grant enabled us to cover the SEIS certification costs, positioning us to begin our first funding round. Simultaneously, we entered a rigorous interview process with Techstars, one of the world’s most competitive startup accelerators. After securing a spot in the accelerator and closing our round with £220k from angel investors, we finally had the resources we needed to start building ivee.

Over the past six months, we’ve brought the ivee platform to life and built a dedicated team who are all in on our mission. Today, with over 8,000 women in our community, we’re making real waves- so much so that we were featured in The Times in October, invited to the House of Lords to speak on female empowerment, and even appeared on the Bloomberg Politics podcast.

The LEH BeBold grant didn’t just help us raise capital; it was the critical first step in turning our vision into a reality. Today, ivee is more than an idea; it’s a community, a tech platform, and a movement for change. We’re excited to keep growing, knowing that with each new member, we’re helping redefine what’s possible for women returners across the world.