Survey: 22% of female tech founders not heard by male investors

One in five (22%) of female founders say they are not being heard by male investors.

Research released by AllBright, a funding and support platform for female tech entrepreneurs, found that access to capital remains to be the largest challenge facing women in business.

The ‘FoundHER Female Founders’ survey, also revealed that female entrepreneurs were confident in the value of their network. In fact, two thirds (65%) of those surveyed said they felt most confident when they encountered like-minded people.

According to the data, female founders co-found their companies with either male (50%) or female (50%) business partners.

Speaking about the findings, Debbie Wosskow, AllBright co-founder, said: “In the progressive, fast-paced world of entrepreneurship, you may be under the assumption that all things are equal when it comes to women securing investment for them to start and grow their  businesses.

“But when only 2.19% of global venture capital funding in a year goes to women, it is clear there is a problem with the report revealing that a lack of connection with male investors is one of the largest barriers to women raising funds.”

The results also show that a third of respondents expressed their desire to take a formal class or course to better prepare themselves for entrepreneurship, but more than 50% said they lacked the funds to do so.

Some 42% said they didn’t know where to go to access the resources they needed to further their entrepreneurial journey.

Anna Jones, AllBright co-founder, added: “The results of this research definitely rang true for me.

“Meeting Debbie, a like-minded individual, was a pivotal point in my career. Often speaking about issues facing women on the London speaking circuit, one of a small number of female CEOs, we found we had so much in common and realised that if we worked together we could move more quickly to deliver on our vision for AllBright, to develop a truly innovative and effective ecosystem for female founders,” she concluded.