Far too few startups are founded by women. In Austria, according to a study by the Female Founders initiative, at least 30 percent of startups have at least one co-founder. Women-based startups are also finding it harder to complete funding rounds. Why? Because the venture capital scene is even more male-dominated worldwide than the startup scene itself.
A global initiative addresses this problem: A directory is designed to connect venture capitalists worldwide. Female VCs can register themselves there, the database is password protected and only accessible to members. The list was initiated by Sutian Dong, a partner in the Female Founders Fund, and Jessica Peltz-Zatulove, a partner at MDC Ventures.
Adriana Collini of Seedstars
Meanwhile, the “Global Women in VC Directory” includes more than 1,000 women – including at least one Austrian: Adriana Collini is Senior Investment Associate with the Swiss VC Seedstars, which operates worldwide and also organizes the largest startup competition for emerging markets. Collini is responsible for Asia at Seedstars.
“While the startup scene in Austria often gets overlooked besides its bigger neighbor Germany, the ecosystem has gained more attention due to Adidas’ acquisition of Runtastic. In the country Speedinvest, as well as with talent and startup events “, we Collini on the initiative’s website cited.
10 European countries
Even though the “Global Women in VC Directory” remains closed to outsiders, the initiative gives interesting insights into the community: The more than 1,000 investors come from 29 countries and 74 cities and work for 590 VC funds. Although the directory is still very US-heavy – 77 percent of women are American – are investors from all continents. In Europe, VCs from the UK, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and Poland have already registered.
Enterprise, Healthcare or FinTech
89 percent of registered VCs are institutional, only 11 percent belong to companies. More than a third of women are partners in their funds. It is noticeable that few women appear to be moving from Associates (16 percent) to Senior Associates (4 percent). Few women are investment managers (2 percent) or vice-president (4 percent). The cliché that women tend to invest in consumer goods does not seem to be true in this community – most investors are in the Enterprise, Healthcare or FinTech sectors. With 16 percent, the topic of artificial intelligence / machine learning is still in the middle of the field.
According to the initiative, members use the network to find co-investors, share deal flows, or network for their own region. Interested parties can register themselves in the directory.