Funding to female entrepreneurs is at its lowest level in five years, and those in the sector are at odds over what to do next.
As a solo, non-technical, woman of colour founder of a technology company, the chances of her receiving funding from investors are so rare there is no reported data on the statistics.
Tugano is far from alone in bumping up against the harsh reality: the stereotype of a white, privileged tech “bro” winning funding for his technology start-up is still by and large the norm. Tugano was let go from her role as a consultant in 2022, when the company she was working for was acquired.“I’d been told in my role as a consultant that I couldn’t present or facilitate. They said that because of the way that I look, I wouldn’t have the respect of business leaders out there because I’m very young looking, I’m Asian and a woman. I started SeenCulture to build a product and build tech to do something about it.
Female-founded start-ups account for 11 per cent of investment deals so far this year. All-male teams have received an average of $4 million per deal in 2024 to date, more than double the $1.8 million average for all-female teams. “I’d say the current state in Blackbird is a sense of exploration. There’s a sense of, we’ve got to be able to have better answers to this as an industry and as a fund.”
“We’re always open to ways of encouraging diversity across the venture capital and start-up industry, and we recognise there is more support we can provide in this important area,” a Square Peg spokeswoman said. Some venture capital firms have signed a pledge to be transparent about how they fund female-founded start-ups. Samar Mcheileh, co-CEO at Scale Investors, and Rachel Yang, partner at Giant Leap, helped drive the initiative.“What’s frustrating is that the narrative is often focused on the fact that women-led start-ups are not being funded, rather than focusing on the benefits of actually funding them,” Yang said.
“In Australia last year, there was $3.5 billion deployed to start-ups. If we move the needle by 1 per cent, and get 1 per cent more into women’s hands, that’s $35 million in additional funding going to Australian women,” Warren said. Carolyn Breeze, the CEO of investment fund Scalare Partners, said she sees a significant difference in pitching styles between men and women.
Kristen Phillips heads up a female-specific start-up accelerator program, New Wave, based out of the University of NSW. In the past five years, 650 women have gone through the philanthropically funded program and worked on 250 start-up ideas between them.
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