A list of women-friendly investors across the globe

2.3%.

This is the proportion of global venture capital funding that was invested in women-led startups in 2020.

Surprising, right?

Photo credit: 123RF

What is more surprising is that this figure was only 2.8% in 2019, an all-time high!

According to a Harvard Business Review report, only 12% of decision makers at VC firms are women. “When women venture capitalists do make the decisions, they’re twice as likely to invest in female founding teams,” the report quotes.

Hence, women in technology across the globe have come together and started compiling a list of angels, venture capital investors, and private equity funds that support women-led startups. Most of these firms have women founding partners or are looking for women founders.

The list is a collaboration between SheVC, SoGal Ventures founder Pocket Sun, the Girls in Tech WhatsApp group, contributors from the UN Women Gender-Smart Investing Forum, and others.

A McKinsey report states that supporting women’s equality in Asia Pacific could add US$4.5 trillion to the region’s collective annual gross domestic product by 2025.

“Women founders should not have limited options when they are looking to raise funds to support their businesses,” Shannon Kalayanamitr, CEO of 5G Catalyst Technologies and advisor at Gobi Partners, told Tech in Asia, explaining the reason behind creating this list.

This is just the beginning and the team is looking for more investors to add to the list.