US survey shows gender gap

Yasmine Chinwala

Female entrepreneurs are a relatively untapped source for venture capital investors, according to a new US study.

Although women own 40% of all companies in the US, female-owned businesses receive only 5% of venture capital invested in new companies, says the Diana Project, a US report looking at women business owners and equity capital markets.

Figures for the UK tell a similar story. Men in the UK are two and a half times more likely to be an entrepreneur, with only 4.3% of women engaged in entrepreneurial activity compared to 11% of men, says data from the London Business School’s Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.

Lucy Marcus, managing director of Marcus Venture Consulting and one of a handful of senior female executives in the private equity industry, says: ‘There are still not enough women at senior positions in all areas, including banking and running companies. It’s not a conspiracy. It’s just a matter of time – as more women get to more senior positions and gain more experience, they will then go off and start companies.’

Part of the problem for women looking for start-up funding is gaining access to business angel and venture capital networks, which are predominantly circles of men. Less than 1% of business angels in the UK are women, and women are two and a half times less likely to be informal investors than men. But that, too, will change as more women earn millions of pounds in their own right, and learn how to invest in new businesses.

The Diana Project found that 35% of women surveyed said a woman opened the door to funding. Marcus says this is partly because women communicate more effectively with other women, and likewise for men.

‘Private equity is all about managing risk. An investor will be drawn to what is familiar, where there is common ground, and familiarity – be it because two people are the same sex, or from the same neighbourhood – is a way of eliminating some of that risk,’ she says.

One solution is for women to form their own networks. In 2000, Marcus set up HighTech Women, a discussion group with 2,500 members, for women to meet and mentor one another.

‘The only way to stay competitive in private equity is to move away from the circle of comfort and explore new areas. Investors will have to extend their circles, and that will include more women,’ says Marcus.