According to a recent report by Founder Institute, close to one-third of its startups worldwide are now female founded. The information comes on the heels of the organization’s 10 year anniversary.
Despite initiatives from venture capitalists and diversity advocates in tech, female founders continue to struggle to raise as much as their male counterparts. The lack of equity in VC is in part caused by the lack of female investors; venture capital funds still employ very few women.
Dozens of firms have made concerted efforts to diversify, however less than 10% of decision-makers at US VC firms are female.
Total VC investment in the US in all-female founding teams reached an all-time high of $3.3B in 2019, only representing 2.8% of capital invested.
Founder Institute’s report may provide promising insight in this regard. Featured in the report is the Female Founder Initiative (FFI), which was launched in 2016 by Rachel Sheppard and Megan Todd to improve gender equality in startups.
According to the report, there was a 50% YoY increase in women-founded Alumni from 2016 to 2017 after launching FFI. Today 30% of Founder Institute Alumni companies are women-founded, and 38% of Alumni in the U.S. were women-founded in 2018.
Women are 10% more likely to be accepted to the program than men and 8% more likely to complete the program.
Said Director of Global Marketing Rachel Sheppard, “We’re really proud of the Founder Institute’s Female Founder Initiative. We believe in our mission and look forward to the years ahead.”
Founder Institute was founded in 2009 by Adeo Ressi and Jonathan Greechan.
Featured photo of Rachel Sheppard, Director of Global Marketing at Founder Institute
This article includes a client of an Espacio portfolio company
Show Comments