Launch & Lead: 78% of the female co-founders in Antler’s portfolio are also the CEO of their business

Antler is providing women with a platform to lead successful tech companies.

In fact, chances are if you're a female co-founder within Antler's startup generator program, you're more likely to also be the CEO.

Since the VC launched in Singapore in 2017, it has run nine cohorts across four continents, producing 119 portfolio companies. Of those companies, 41% have a female co-founder and of those women, 78% hold the position of CEO.

From Stockholm to London, Narobi, Amsterdam, Singapore, Oslo, New York and Sydney, Antler builds strong co-founding teams, often led by strong female leaders.

When looking at global benchmarks as a comparison, the Silicon Valley Bank's 2019 Startup Outlook Survey (findings below) reports that just 28% of startups globally have a female founder.

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Antler's statistics demonstrate that as a woman joining an Antler program, you are significantly increasing your chances of not only co-founding a company but leading it.

"People close to me know that I was always propelled forward by my desire to solve challenges in insurance. Doing this through my own startup was and continues to be a scary thought," says Skye Theodorou, co-founder and CEO of UpCover, an Antler portfolio company out of Sydney's first program - a region where all-female alumni are also the CEO of their business.

"When you consider doing anything - it might feel lonely, isolating and terrifying. However, the Antler program gave me a structure, a group of incredible people to baseline my experiences, and share the experience with, and provided me with a circle of influence that was enormous.

"This circle of influence was integral was a huge boost whether giving me the courage or validity to tap into my own networks or new ones. What I love most about Antler is that everyone joining is on equal terms, regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation or ethnicity. I know it's made a huge difference to my business, as a first-time founder, and a woman.

So, why is it important to have gender diversity in a founding team?

Women are not a minority. They represent 50% of the world's population and therefore this should not be a conversation about diversity but rather representation, gender parity and equality. This will not only build stronger teams and companies, but it will also provide a significant boost to the economy. If women were to participate in the workforce identically to men, they could add as much as US$28 trillion or 26% to annual global GDP in 2025. In addition to that, startups co-founded by women generate 78 cents for every dollar funded, while male-founded startups generated only 31 cents.

Antler enables women to found and lead new companies and is actively part of moving the needle in the gender equality movement within the workforce. Creating female leaders makes women not just part of the conversation but decision-makers at the helm of the business.

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