AwakenAngels cofounder and Director of Investor Relations, Denise McQuaid (from Blackrock, in Co. Louth), has been named UK Diversity in Investment Champion at the UK Business Angels Association (UKBAA) Angel Investment Awards 2026, held in London last night.
The individual honour recognises Denise’s leadership in transforming access to angel investing for women across the island of Ireland through AwakenAngels, the Derry-headquartered investment syndicate and community she helped establish in 2023. The syndicate was also shortlisted in two further categories at the awards: the UK Angel Group of the Year and Regional Champion of the Year.
AwakenAngels is the only women-led investment syndicate on the island of Ireland. It is the sister organisation of AwakenHub, Ireland’s first all-island community supporting women founders to start and scale businesses.
Women-led rather than women-only, AwakenAngels was created by AwakenHub out of frustration with the continual barriers women founders face in raising early-stage investment.
Today, it has 141 members and operates across Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and internationally. Among its education pathways are a CPD-accredited AwakenAngels Academy programme for women curious about becoming angel investors and the UK and Ireland’s only dedicated Deal Leader programme for women. As a syndicate, it also deliberately lowered its entry ticket to invest to £2,000, €2,000 or $2,000 per syndicate member to make angel investing more accessible.
The award caps a memorable year for the syndicate, which just last month completed its tenth investment with HaPPE Earth, a provider of compostable PPE solutions.
Since deploying its first investment in April 2024, it has enabled its portfolio companies to secure over £6.7m in follow-on investment. Earlier this year, the syndicate also announced a new partnership with the global WIN (Women in Innovation) network, giving its 5,000-plus members worldwide access to the AwakenAngels Academy.
Speaking after being named the UKBAA’s Diversity in Investment Champion, Denise McQuaid, said: “Receiving this award means a great deal because it recognises all the incredible women who have stepped forward to learn about angel investing and chosen to become investors and supporters of brilliant women founders as part of our AwakenAngels community. It’s also very real validation of the belief and support our partners have had in us and in our vision to unlock more investment for women founders across our island. Watching our education programmes actively turn into investment has been one of the most rewarding parts of this journey. I’m so proud of what we've already achieved as a small team and the exciting thing is we're only just getting started."
Congratulating her cofounder on her win, Clare McGee, CEO of AwakenAngels, said “Denise's recognition as the UKBAA’s Diversity in Investment Champion is so well deserved. Anyone who knows Denise will know she is a human dynamo who has worked tirelessly to remove many of the barriers that have traditionally prevented women from participating in angel investing across the island of Ireland and beyond. She’s been pivotal in shaping our syndicate, our education pathways, and our investment performance.
“We’re also proud that AwakenAngels was a finalist in three categories at this year’s UKBAA Angel Investment Awards. That reflects our achievements, our commitment to regional leadership and supporting women founders in every corner of this island, and our determination to build a more diverse angel investment ecosystem. This recognition belongs to every one of our members, portfolio companies, programme participants, partners and founders who have helped us prove that angel investing and securing early-stage capital can be democratised and can be done differently."
AwakenAngels runs regular corporate and individual training programmes for those interested in learning more about angel investing or those who wish to become syndicate members. It also recently announced details of new US trade mission opportunities now open for expressions of interest. Further information can be found online at awakenangelshq.com
