Werqwise’s Post

I attended the Google X Healthtech event in Berlin last week. It was very inspiring; I learned a great deal, met old friends and also made new connections. The audience of founders and investors was fairly diverse with a touch more male I'd say. The same week I read this New York Times "Women Entrepreneurs Are Hitting a Funding Wall": https://lnkd.in/evr7FUy5 Here's what it says: Women still face significant barriers in the investment world. Female-led startups receive just a fraction of the funding compared to their male counterparts. But why is this happening? I find it super hard to wrap my head around this. Women are as smart and capable as men. Just to state the obvious. Is it still these reasons: → Bias in the investment process ? → Lack of representation in venture capital firms ? → The misconception that femtech is a niche market ? We believe in the power of femtech to transform lives and to make money at the same time.

The data on #womeninvestors and #womenceos is not good, so let's move the needle. Join us on March 8th! Details below. Juan Sebastian Garzon - thanks for sharing the facts.

📈🔬👩🏽💻 Excited to explore the latest insights on female founders in the US venture capital landscape from NextRound.ai's blog post! Understanding the Landscape of Female Founders in VC is essential for industry growth and diversity. Check it out here: https://nextround.ai/blog/ Key insights from the dashboard show a positive trend in the growth of female-founded companies receiving VC funding. However, challenges still exist for female founders compared to their male counterparts. Geographical differences in funding distribution, like in Silicon Valley, highlight the need for continued support and investment in female entrepreneurs. NextRound.ai offers a solution for female founders in fundraising with cutting-edge AI technology. Get personalized recommendations, actionable insights, and strategic guidance to enhance fundraising campaigns and secure investments. Empower your startup's growth and overcome funding challenges with NextRound.ai's innovative platform. Learn more at the source link provided. 📍#FemaleFounders #VentureCapital #DiversityInTech 📎 https://nextround.ai/blog/ 📎 #UnderstandingTheLandscape #NextRound #WomenInTech ✅🌤️

When low goes lower: PitchBook reports venture deals for U.S. #FemaleFounders trails sharply compared to recent years, with, of course, some #AI twists. Key data points include: ■ "Startups with at least one female founder garnered $15.4 billion across 1,487 deals through the first six months of 2024. This is the lowest amount of capital raised in H1 since 2020. ■While the share of US #VC capital going to female-only founded companies remains relatively stable, the share for #startups with both male and female founders fell from 26% to 14.8% year-over-year, largely *due to unusually large rounds from female-co founded OpenAI and Anthropic.* ■Notable deals so far this year include a $1 billion Series F for Scale AI, co-founded by Lucy Guo, and a $259 Series C for biopharm company Alumis, founded by June Lee." #GlobalBusiness

When low goes lower: PitchBook reports venture deals for U.S. #FemaleFounders trails sharply compared to recent years, with, of course, some #AI twists. Key data points include: ■ "Startups with at least one female founder garnered $15.4 billion across 1,487 deals through the first six months of 2024. This is the lowest amount of capital raised in H1 since 2020. ■While the share of US #VC capital going to female-only founded companies remains relatively stable, the share for #startups with both male and female founders fell from 26% to 14.8% year-over-year, largely *due to unusually large rounds from female-co founded OpenAI and Anthropic.* ■Notable deals so far this year include a $1 billion Series F for Scale AI, co-founded by Lucy Guo, and a $259 Series C for biopharm company Alumis, founded by June Lee." #GlobalBusiness

Shockingly only 0.5% of VC funding goes to women of color founders. That’s why Founderland, the fastest growing community of women of colour founders, partnered with us at R/GA EMEA to create a Pitch AI Mentor (PAM) - which offers every founder a safe-space practice their pitch and receive instant, personalized feedback all powered by AI. We’re incredibly proud to share the story of how we created PAM today, which you can read more about here in Fast Company #aiforgood

Research by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and SISTA have apparently concluded that women entrepreneurs got only 2% of European investor funds between 2020 and 2022. TechCrunch says that the US's 2022 number was slightly worse at 1.9%. This despite women startups being 10% of total startups. A small part of that disproportion between the number of companies and funding may perhaps be explained by different business models, a focus on different business areas, etc. But this absurdly large funding gap is so enormous and has remained this low for so long that nothing short of structural bias can explain it. The women's startups that I saw at Women in Tech Global Summit were genuinely innovative and had obviously solid business cases. Why shouldn't they be welcomed and funded fairly on the basis of their merit ? What are they be stuck in that 1.9-2.0%? And why is fixing this such a stubborn, long-time problem? If we can create Gen AI, and solve so many difficult tech problems, why can't we find ways to slowly but surely solve this?

💡“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” After becoming a #mother, the pursuit of creating impact has taken on a whole new significance. I am not the only one. Women notoriously tend to focus on solving problems that impact the whole, combining financial ambitions with social impact. In a world besieged by myriad challenges – from climate change to geopolitical complexities – #deeptech emerges as the elusive yet essential ingredient for solutions. Deep tech is not just about delving into science and technology but about transforming that technology into a product, scale it up, develop it, and break the entire well established industries. It is hard work with no clear outcome and certainty. The spotlight on women in deep tech investing is crucial. It's about ideas, solutions and this pressing tendency to have impact we bring to the table. Despite the buzz surrounding Deep Tech and women, a startling reality persists: only 3% of VC funding went to startups exclusively founded by women as revealed by Lakestar. Not everyone can be a #scientist, #start-up founder or helm a deep tech #vcfund, but you can contribute. Whether you deploy your capital, offer recommendations, extend a helping hand, or champion heroines you can be the part of the change. As a start I encourage you to subscribe to European Women in VC to not only stay informed but to actively participate in this transformative journey. Link to our February Edition in the comment. 💪🌐 #WomenInTech #DeepTech #Innovation #DiversityandInclusion #ChangeMakers #womeninvc cc: 🚀Kinga Stanislawska, Iwona Cymerman, Shari Rana, Inka Mero, Dr. Gesa Miczaika, Almudena Trigo Lorenzo, Jenny Ruth Hrafnsdottir, Eva Arh, Dr. Terhi (TJ) Vapola, Shiva Dustdar, Helen McBreen, Marianne Hyltoft, Jacqueline Ruedin Rüsch, Marjut Falkstedt, Ariadna Masó, Magdalena Jander, PhD, Maja Schaefer, Olga Malinkiewicz, PhD, Ana Maiques, Blanca Drake Rodríguez-Casanova, Alexandra Gren, Olga Grygier-Siddons, European Women in VC

I asked Metta World Peace what investment funds need to be doing to better serve Women of Color, and also what he is specifically doing with his companies to support WOC. His answer? He shared that he has Women in positions of power within his companies and is committed to addressing underlying issues that lead to a lack of funding and advancement of female founders. According to Crunchbase, only 2% of venture capital funding in the US went to women-owned businesses in 2023. Meanwhile a recent report found that women-led start ups generate more revenue per dollar invested than other startups. We clearly have so much work to do to close this gap in funding but as a female founder, I’m more motivated than ever to push for more pathways for us all with Altura Brands What a great time this past weekend at Investment Week 24 learning from and connecting with fellow entrepreneurs, congrats to Jose Barrera of STARTUPSTARTER for putting on an amazing conference. Lastly thank you to the women who approached me after this talk to thank me for my question. We’re in this together! #investmentweek #techweek #femalefounder #latinaentrepreneur

✨✨✨ News alert! ✨✨✨ One of the coolest initiatives - The Better Fund - dedicated to empowering women to invest in other women has been officially re-launched. Ever since reading the Invisible Women by Caroline Criado-Perez (great read, btw) I can’t believe that statements like this are true, that in 2023, women-led startups in Europe received only 1% of the available capital, even though Female founders consistently outperform their counterparts, delivering higher returns and greater impact. The gap is still significant. And I’d like to change that, or at least help. Our women-led team - Jana Budkovskaja Liina Laas, Saniya V. and me - are passionate about helping fellow women succeed by providing mentorship, coaching, and, most importantly, capital to support their businesses. Therefore we are now preparing for our next steps—creating opportunities for women to learn, connect, and co-invest in innovative startups. And to kick off, we're thrilled to partner with Business Angel School for the 5th edition of their Women Investing in Tech program! 🎓 📅 Start Date: October 21 ⏳ Duration: 4 weeks 💸 Cost: Free of charge 📌 Learn more and apply here: [Find Link in Comments] This practical course is designed to equip women with the knowledge and frameworks needed to make impactful investments. Join in,