Study: Women are less likely to be investors and receive less money as founders

A new study shows the glaring inequality in the scene. But: women invest in women more often. In order to close the large financing gap, it could help to provide more capital for funds managed by women.

Start-ups founded by women receive less venture capital than all-male or mixed founding teams. This is the result of an analysis by European Women in VC, an association of women and men for more gender diversity in the European start-up scene. According to the analysis, only 1.8 percent of all investments in Europe went to female founders last year. Compared to previous years, the proportion has hardly changed.

There is also a financing gap between the genders on the investor side: a survey of more than 400 venture capital companies revealed that only 15 percent of women participate in funds. 85 percent of investors are male. In addition, female investors tend to participate in small funds. This means that 91 percent of the actual investment power lies with male investors. Furthermore, women mainly occupy junior investment positions and are less likely to achieve partner status.

"The problem is systemic, so we need to look for holistic solutions," explains Anna Wnuk, Head of Community at European Women in VC. "The capital imbalance is not only visible at the start-up level, but runs through the entire value chain and needs to be addressed from the top of the capital flows. We need more capital for women-led funds and female investors at the fund management level."

However, the European Women in VC report also revealed record growth across the investor scene. Last year, a total of over 100 billion euros flowed into European start-ups. As a result of the investments, 100 more start-ups achieved unicorn status.