Verifoxx, a pioneer in privacy enhancing technologies (PETs), is thrilled to announce that its CEO and founder, Roisin McCarthy, has been named a winner of the Innovate UK Women in Innovation Award 2025. This prestigious award recognises Roisin as one of 50 trailblazing women entrepreneurs driving innovation across the UK.
The Innovate UK Women in Innovation Awards celebrate the country’s most groundbreaking women entrepreneurs who are tackling critical economic, societal, and environmental challenges. Each winner receives a £75,000 grant, personalised business coaching, and access to a network of industry leaders and investors.
Roisin McCarthy, founder and CEO of Verifoxx, said:
“I am honoured to be recognised as an Innovate UK Women in Innovation Award winner. At Verifoxx, we are revolutionising how financial institutions and telecoms share fraud intelligence using privacy-enhancing technologies. With fraud costing the UK £7 billion annually, our mission is to help banks and telecoms securely collaborate without exposing sensitive data, supporting efforts to protect people from scams. This award will accelerate our ability to deliver real-world impact.”
Verifoxx’s approach aligns with recent guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which has urged organisations to do more to share data securely in the fight against fraud. The ICO highlighted Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs) as one tool for enabling responsible, privacy-preserving collaboration between organisations. By leveraging multiple PETS, including Zero-Knowledge Proofs, Verifoxx allows financial institutions and telecoms to share actionable intelligence without exposing raw data, strengthening efforts to prevent scams while ensuring compliance with data protection regulations.
The Innovate UK Women in Innovation Awards continue to champion high-potential women business leaders from diverse backgrounds. The awards drew 1,452 applications from women business leaders, a 52% increase from last year. This record-breaking engagement highlights the high demand for innovation support and the potential to drive economic growth from women-led businesses in the UK.
In total, £3.75 million in government funding is being awarded, with each recipient receiving 50% more funding than in previous years. Recent data across all Innovate UK competitions shows that 1 in 3 successful grant applications are now led by women, a significant increase from 1 in 7 when the Innovate UK Women in Innovation programme first launched in 2016.
Dr Stella Peace, Interim Executive Chair of Innovate UK, said:
“The Innovate UK Women in Innovation programme is a powerful catalyst for change, not just for the brilliant women entrepreneurs it supports, but for the entire UK innovation landscape. By breaking down barriers and amplifying diverse voices, Innovate UK is fostering a more inclusive and dynamic ecosystem that drives progress across all sectors. This programme is about more than funding – it's about creating role models, building networks, and inspiring the next generation of women innovators to dream big and transform our world.”
Previous Innovate UK Women in Innovation Award winners have gone on to achieve remarkable success, including securing multi-million-pound investments, expanding operations, winning prestigious industry and royal awards, entering international markets, and forging high-profile partnerships with organisations such as Google, Disney, and the NHS.
For more information about the Innovate UK Women in Innovation Awards, visit bit.ly/IUKWomenInnovate. Notes to Editors
For media inquiries, interviews, or further details, please contact: PR@verifoxx.com
About Verifoxx
Verifoxx is a UK-based company specialising in privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) that enable organisations to collaborate on data securely, without exposing sensitive information. By ensuring privacy is a tool for progress rather than a barrier, Verifoxx helps financial institutions and telecoms harness data securely while combating fraud and regulatory challenges.
About Innovate UK
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is the UK’s innovation agency. It supports businesses in developing groundbreaking products and services that drive economic growth. Through its Women in Innovation programme, Innovate UK aims to create a more inclusive and dynamic innovation ecosystem, supporting female entrepreneurs in scaling their businesses.
About Innovate UK Women in Innovation
The Innovate UK Women in Innovation Awards launched in 2016, to increase the number of women engaging with Innovate UK and investing in innovation to grow their own businesses.
Research conducted with women innovators revealed that access to funding and finance remains the most significant barrier to success, alongside challenges such as the lack of visible role models and difficulty accessing key networks. Over the past eight years, the Awards have worked to break down these barriers. They have championed women entrepreneurs, driven business growth, and created opportunities for more women and girls to be inspired into innovation.
They have had an incredible impact and kickstarted positive change across the innovation system. Through the Awards, Innovate UK has invested over £11 million in 200 pioneering women innovators and the programme has driven a >100% increase in the number of successful women-led applications across all Innovate UK funding competitions.
This pipeline of high-potential, women-led businesses will be ready to engage with the upcoming Invest in Women Taskforce. This industry-led, government-backed initiative is establishing a £250 million funding pool - one of the world’s largest investment resources for female-led and mixed-gender enterprises.
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