Enabling women to find success in Venture Capital

Currently, only ~2% of all Dutch Venture Capital is invested in female-founded or female co-founded companies. Simply put, there is a huge population with phenomenal ideas but they are largely being ignored, misunderstood or brushed to the side. Now, what can we do to solve this problem?

sarah-kimmorley

Author

Sarah Kimmorley

Sarah is responsible for scaling Antler’s presence in Australia by delivering operational efficiencies and frameworks across the firm. Sarah is also responsible for Antler Australia’s marketing and brand presence, partnerships and business development, and people and culture. Before joining Antler, Sarah was the General Manager at Business Insider Australia and Gizmodo Media Group, leading four globally renowned digital media brands in Australia.

Investors need to stop blaming the lack of diversity in their portfolios on a "pipeline problem". It's not a pipeline problem, it's a power problem.

— SHEILA HERRLING, INC.COM

Not too long ago, inc.com called this out on a global scale in an article titled: "Women aren't getting funded and there's a simple reason why".

The columnist highlighted that: "Investors need to stop blaming the lack of diversity in their portfolios on a "pipeline problem. It's not a pipeline problem, it's a power problem."

According to research completed by PitchBook, in the US since 2005, less than 10% of all companies that received venture support had a female founder.

Simply put, there is a huge part of the population with potentially phenomenal ideas but they are largely being ignored, misunderstood or brushed to the side.

Now, what can we do to solve this problem?

Imagine how many more female founders and businesses there would be if there was a platform that was actively seeking a 50/50 gender split in their portfolio companies. Not to mention enabling ambitious women to launch their own business by supporting them financially, providing professional mentorship and access to capital.

Enter Antler, a global startup generator and early-stage VC company that launched in Amsterdam earlier this year following success in Singapore and Stockholm.

Antler aims to bridge the gender-gap plaguing tech by breaking down the barriers of entrepreneurship.

By providing funding from day one, a clear pathway to capital, access to a global network of advisors, investors and entrepreneurs, as well as helping them find a co-founder with complementary skills, Antler is supporting founders at the very earliest stage in their journey.

Of our 44 portfolio companies, 50% have at least one female co-founder. We are so committed to maintaining this balance that we have joined #Fundright. This initiative, which was started by 26 Dutch VCs (with more joining by the day) are committed to hiring more women in tech. Along with Antler all the VCs signed have agreed to reach 35% female representation within the next 3 years.

Antler removes much of the fear, risk and personal sacrifice previously required to start a business to allow founders to truly innovate and create the change they have been seeking to achieve.

In just six months we help founders build a team, launch a business, secure pre-seed funding, scale that business, achieve first milestones, and then potentially gain a seed capital fundraising round at the Antler Demo Day at the end of the program. Some teams in international regions have gained between US$250K to US$1.5 million. These accomplishments would ordinarily take startup years to achieve.

If you or someone you know has been looking for access, funding, or just a supportive pathway to achieve your dreams of starting your own business, Antler could be the program you've been looking for.

This article was written by Sarah Kimmorley, Director of Communications for Antler Sydney.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Get the latest news and views from Antler’s global community

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Must-read articles from Antler

Browse our collection of founder stories, industry insights and latest startup successes from Antler Australia

See articles
Founder Stories
5 min read
Sharon Li & Vanessa Chen: Empowering employees to be their healthiest and most productive selves

“People sometimes think the emotional and professional are conflicting, but what we believe is when people love their organization, the emotional value will actually make them productive. It will make them give their full self to the organization and make the organization grow for the long term.” —Sharon Li, co-founder and CEO of CHOYS

Founder Stories
5 min read
Piet Hein van Dam: The seasoned data entrepreneur aiming to eradicate type 2 diabetes

Our content series "It All Starts with People" delves into the passions, motivations, and vision of the exceptional founders we have the privilege of partnering with around the world. Bringing a clarity of vision to our latest spotlight is Piet Hein van Dam, co-founder of Clear, the award-winning digital self-help tool for diabetes patients.

Insights
5 min read
Unpacking the $80+ billion ONDC opportunity: India’s next startup catalyst

India's approach to unbundle payments made the world look up and take notice. Now it's time to disrupt commerce with the Open Network for Digital Commerce or ONDC. In our latest Theory of Next deep dive we mapped, researched, and reached out to every network participant live on ONDC right now.


And we're excited to share with you a comprehensive what could be India's next unicorn catalyst with inputs from Vibhor Jain (COO of ONDC), Sujith Nair (Founding member of Beckn Protocol), and founders building on ONDC!

Co-authored by Nitin Sharma (Partner, Antler) and Gokul Kumaravelu.

Insights
5 min read
Five steps investors can take to support more diverse founders

Despite growing calls to create a more inclusive venture capital ecosystem and remove the barriers to entrepreneurship, only a fraction of funding is raised by founders from underrepresented communities.

The first step towards change is quantifying the challenge. While in-depth research has been conducted about women founders and founders from ethnic minority backgrounds, data has never existed about tech founders from the LGBTQ+ community—until now.

Insights
5 min read
A record year for Europe's leading day zero investor

A look back at 2022, a record year for the leading day zero investor in Europe—showcasing investment activity and key predictions for the early-stage tech ecosystem in 2023.

Founder Stories
5 min read
Antler and Microsoft for Startups partner to back women founders

Antler is proud to join forces with Microsoft for Startups to support rising entrepreneurs—starting with 23 non-dilutive grants to women founders in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and North America—and reduce the barriers to startup success. Meet some of these founders.

Founder Stories
5 min read
Tanika McLeod: The educator empowering the next generation with an on-demand social learning platform

Our content series—"It All Starts with People"—delves into the passions, motivations, and vision of the exceptional founders we have the privilege of partnering with around the world. In our latest spotlight, we spoke with Tanika McLeod, one of the three co-founders behind MinuteSkill, a Toronto-based social micro-learning platform that uses bite-sized content and knowledge-sharing communities to empower the next generation.

Insights
5 min read
Venture capital as an engine of positive transformation

Antler's second annual ESG and Impact Report shares learnings on how VCs can focus on creating sustainable value from the outset, and celebrates our portfolio companies' work in this space.