THE STORY
Why Female Foundry?
In 2022, female founders raised a record amount of funding, despite that, the portion of the total venture capital raised by female-founded startups in the US and Europe remains at the low 2%.
Lack of Capital
Between 2016-2021 just 2% of the total venture capital was raised by female entrepreneurs. In comparison, all-male founding teams raised 94% of capital from 85% of all rounds. Also in 2021 the average deal size at the early VC and Series A rounds of all-male and mixed founding teams more than doubled that of female founders.
Lack of Diversity in the Investment Community
One of the major barriers to better gender parity is a lack of diversity in the VC industry. The Experior Venture report found that 90% of capital is managed by male general partners, and 93% of all partners in VC firms are men. This follows similar trends seen in the UK VC industry. A 2019 survey by Diversity VC found that just one in 10 senior roles were taken by women. “Investor homophily” — attraction to similarity — is a significant cause of the imbalance at the fundraising level, according to a report by the European Commission. It found that VC firms with women partners are more than twice as likely to invest in women-led enterprises, and more than three times more likely to invest in enterprises with women CEOs. These VC firms, however, are a rarity in the startup ecosystem. Just 5% of venture capital funds have all-women general partners.
Based on the 2021 report published by sifted.eu, full report here.
"I believe that every startup investment opportunity should be evaluated based on its merits, no matter the gender makeup
of the founding team".
Agata Nowicka
Founder, Female Foundry
THE STORY
Founder Profile
Based in London, UK, Agata Nowicka is a two-time founder, a VC, an angel investor, and a startup advisor.
Prior to starting Female Foundry, Agata founded CushiCush, an e-commerce and data analytics platform in Hong Kong, and most recently, Pixel, a blockchain capital markets fintech startup. Agata serves as an advisor to several early-stage startups in the Web3, Future of Food, Marketplaces, and Fintech space.
Agata is an alumnus of an MBA program at INSEAD & Wharton Business School.
Over the past four years, Agata has been
a mentor and a speaker at startup competitions, accelerators, hackatons and demo days. Some of them include:
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Techstars: Startup Mentor
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Hult Prize: Panel Judge and Mentor
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Youth Hackathon: Entry Mentor
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Allia Accelerator: Panel Judge
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MeetFounders: Speaker
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Startup Bootcamp: Speaker
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Alpha Wolves: Speaker
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Loyal VC: Advisor
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Startup Lab: Speaker
THE STORY
Our purpose
There is no quick fix to a lack of funding for female founders.
The current situation will only change based on a cumulative action.
This is why I have developed a number of Female Foundry initiatives that I believe will help female founders to get more funding in a long run and make the investment ecosystem more diverse.
Help us change
the status quo
Do you have ideas about how we can influence the current investment environment? Would you like to join
us on the mission to make investment community more inclusive and diverse?