Women in startup leadership roles despite a fundraising boom in 2021, little has changed
- ByStartupStory | January 21, 2022
According to a report by indigenous venture debt firm InnoVen Capital, gender gap in the Indian startup ecosystem narrowed just slightly in 2021, despite firms raising record financing at high valuations.
According to the report, India Startup Outlook Report, around 70% of startups in the country have fewer than 20% women in leadership roles, compared to 77% in 2020, and approximately 41% of companies have less than 10% women in leadership roles.
Ashish Sharma, managing partner, InnoVen Capital India, told VCCircle via email, “While gender diversity in startups and tech has started to get a lot of attention lately, it continues to be a challenge. This is not an India centric issue as we have seen similar trends in the US. In the US, female founders secured only 2% of venture capital in 2021, while startups with at least one female founder got 15.6% of total funding,”
Even when compared to 2019, when roughly 69 percent of companies had less than 20 percent women in leadership roles, the gender gap has remained relatively unchanged. Gender diversity continues to be a challenge, according to the report.
Exit expectations of founders soared in 2021, thanks to blockbuster initial public offerings (IPOs) of companies like Nykaa, operated by FSN E-Commerce, and Zomato. In addition, 71 percent of founders feel that an IPO is the most likely form of exit for their investors in 2022, compared to 47 percent in 2020. Meanwhile, 58 percent of founders chose an IPO in India, compared to 30% in 2020.
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