With the median capital raise for female-led startups trailing significantly behind that of all-male founding teams, some of Australia’s largest venture capital (VC) funds have vowed to provide more data about how much attention and funding they give to women founders.
The 13 funds involved – including Blackbird and Airtree – have committed to releasing data on the number of women-led businesses and mixed teams they’ve screened, conducted due diligence on and invested in each year, all in the interests of improving equality and transparency.
The program was initiated by Alberts investment manager Lisa Fedorenko, Scale Investors co-CEO Samar McHeileh, and Giant Leap partner Rachel Yang, whose companies are all involved.
Other participants include LaunchVic’s Alice Anderson Fund, the Artesian Female Leaders VC Fund, Euphemia, Trawalla Female-Led Ventures, Tractor, Friday Club, Climate Salad, and Birchal. Another 40 have expressed interest in taking part.
“Transparency is a known tool for equality and we can’t improve what we can’t measure. A united industry with clear gender reporting is a great step forward for equality in venture capital in Australia,” says Lisa Fedorenko of Alberts.
“Over half of Albert Impact Ventures portfolio companies have at least one female founder, we’re proud to be reimagining and supporting a more equitable playing field.”
Read the full article by Business Insider
