TLDR Series: The discrepancy women founders face
We’re passionate about supporting women in business at Nine Yards. We’re a female founded business that was created out of the desire to do meaningful work in a flexible way. We’re navigating business operations and growth and are proud of our success to date.
However, we know that women founders (especially in the tech start up sector) are often faced with disadvantages compared to their male colleagues.
Women get less funding, yet the value they provide is evident
Funding to Australian female founded technology companies have fallen to their lowest levels in five years despite $3.5 billion being deployed to start ups.
Female founded start ups account for 11% of investment deals.
All-male teams received an average of $4 million per deal in 2024 to date, more than double the $1.8 million average for all females.
Female-led businesses receive 96% less funding than male led, with the actual ‘cheque’ sizes for male led being significantly more.
Despite women receiving less funding, the ROI for every dollar invested is 78c for female led compared to 41c for male led.
Who is making the decisions?
Currently one quarter of Blackbird’s investment committee are women.
One-third of Airtree’s committee are women, and concerningly, they’ve made zero investment in all female teams compared with 86% for male teams.
Squarepeg didn’t contribute.
This needs to shift.
Three ways you can set women up for success
Have more diverse investment panels
Ensure the people making the decisions represent the breadth of founders.Provide more coach and mentoring for the investment process
Women focus more on the purpose and value of the idea while men traditionally focus on ROI and metrics. Support women to make the most of their pitch and opportunity.Be transparent with your reporting
Recent legislation passed in California will require diversity of founders they are backing to be shared.
Sources
The Age, ‘Time & time again I am overlooked’: Women locked out of Tech funding. July 20, 2024, David Swan
SXSW 2023 Panel: Camille Goldstone-Henry (Xylo), Megan Dalla-Camina (Women Rising), Luli Adeyemo (Tech Diversity)