It鈥檚 the row that has got the tech world talking.
At the centre of the dispute is a politician, an investigative journalist and one of the leading voices in the European tech scene.
Step forward Samantha Niblett MP, Sifted journalist Freya Pratty and Seb Johnson, founder of Scaling Europe, who updates his 96k followers on LinkedIn on all things European tech.
The increasingly public row has polarised opinion and dragged in some senior figures in the world of tech, including Harry Stebbings, best known as the founder of The Twenty Minute VC (20VC) podcast. More about him later.
The origins of the war of words between Niblett and Johnson was a , a respected reporter and investigations lead at the Financial Times-backed Sifted.
The article was headlined: 鈥楨urope鈥檚 tech bro renaissance is upon us’ and lamented the return of tech bro culture.
She wrote: 鈥淓cosystem podcasts go months without interviewing a woman. And hackathons are back, big time, but female participants remain in the minority.鈥�
That probably would have been the end of the matter had Johnson not intervened.
A proud father of three daughters, he鈥檚 built an impressive community at Scaling Europe, regularly interviewing Europe鈥檚 top founders and investors. He also likes writing in CAPITAL LETTERS.
He reposted Pratty鈥檚 original article and wrote: 鈥淭he hypocrisy in this article is truly ASTOUNDING.
鈥淔reya Pratty of Sifted has just published an article in which she criticises Harry Stebbings for a lack of female guests on his show.
鈥淎nd yet, I have just scrolled through Sifted鈥檚 鈥楽tartup Fundraise鈥� page and of the last 20 companies written about only ONE has a female co-founder.
鈥淭hat’s one out of over 40 founders mentioned – a significantly lower ratio than Harry鈥檚.鈥�
For the record, Stebbings does interview a staggeringly low number of female founders on his podcast and was criticised by Debbie Wosskow, co-chair of the UK鈥檚 Invest in Women Workforce, for the lack of females in his latest initiative Project Europe.
It was at this point that South Derbyshire MP Samantha Niblett waded into the row and took it to a whole new level.
She鈥檚 also the founder of a group called 鈥楲abour: Women in Tech鈥�, which aims to encourage more women into tech.
MP Samantha Niblett
Niblett took to LinkedIn to accuse Johnson鈥檚 post of being 鈥榯asteless, bombastic, and boyish鈥� and said it made him look like he was 鈥榩art of the problem鈥�.
She added: 鈥淚nstead of offering to help to try and solve the issue, you opted for deflection, whataboutery, and attack. I wonder why?鈥�
The MP even added the hashtag #boyswillbeboys.
After a short lull in hostilities, Niblett and Johnson had another skirmish this week.
It was sparked this time by a LinkedIn post from Johnson celebrating the fact that Britain is great.
Unfortunately, neither the post nor the attached video mentioned a single female.
Britain is great – but where are the women?
He wrote: 鈥淏ritain has always been great. The telescope, jet engine and world wide web were all invented here.
鈥淎nd now a new generation is rising with entrepreneurs like: Victor Riparbelli of Synthesia; Barney Hussey-Yeo of Cleo; Mati Staniszewski of ElevenLabs; and James Dacombe of OLIX, who are building the technologies of the future from right here.
鈥淭here鈥檚 more to be done and there鈥檚 more to be built, but I love this country and I love seeing it trying to solve the hardest problems in the world. LET鈥橲 GO.鈥�
Niblett鈥檚 response followed soon after.
鈥淏ritain is indeed great,鈥� she replied. 鈥淎nd it has women in it, not that you鈥檇 know that in your post. Where are the women in your version of Britain?鈥�
She added: 鈥淪eb, can you see yet why many women feel invisible in the tech world? You couldn鈥檛 even mention a single woman in your praise of how Britain has always been great.
鈥淣ot a single mention of a female tech innovator from history or today.
鈥淎nd that was 鈥榓fter鈥� a heated exchange on women being invisible.
鈥淚t now looks like you鈥檙e doing it on purpose for reach and/or rage bait because that is the only way I can think you鈥檇 write this post and not realise women appear to be invisible to you.鈥�
Ceasefire?
The good news is it looks like a ceasefire could be on the cards.
Johnson struck a conciliatory tone in his response, saying he appreciated the feedback.
鈥淎 healthy ecosystem is one where tough conversations can be had,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e right to call the video out. The omission was an oversight, certainly not rage bait.
鈥淚f you ever want to chat more I鈥檇 love to grab a coffee. I鈥檓 sure we want the same thing for the ecosystem and the more people working together the better.鈥�