📬 EWVC Newsletter: Entrenched norms persist
Welcome to the March 2024 edition of our Newsletter! #poweredby OVH Cloud
Quote of the day: “When you’re chasing a dream, don’t forget to bring in others (even when they disagree).” Whitney Johnson
Dear Friends of European Women in VC,
PitchBook published a fantastic report on female founders and their role in the European venture ecosystem. While the VC industry champions innovation and opportunity, entrenched norms persist, notably seen in the significant differences in venture dealmaking based on founder gender.
In 2022, the landscape for all venture-backed founders shifted amid worsening macroeconomic conditions, impacting growth opportunities and slowing fundraising efforts. Strategies pivoted from pursuing growth at high valuations to cost reduction and extending financial runways. These challenges persisted into 2023, affecting founders of all genders to varying degrees.
Despite obstacles, data shows notable growth in cumulative deal activity for female founders over the past decade.
European venture ecosystem is predominantly male-dominated, yet female founders represent a growing fraction of total VC activity.
Despite a widening gap in VC investments between teams with all men and those with women, recent years have seen increased deal activity and greater receptiveness to female founders.
Female-founded companies secured over €10 billion in 2023, displaying solid investment opportunities with growing pre-money valuations, efficient exit times, and lower VC burn rates, although the majority of decision-makers at venture firms are male, impacting capital-raising prospects for female founders.
In 2023, female-founded companies accounted for 25.8% of European VC deal count (up from 25.2% in 2022) and 20.9% of VC deal value (up from 15.1% in 2022). Those figures are “record high” proportions.
“Female-led companies grew sales more rapidly than their male-led and mixed-leadership counterparts from 2022 to 2023.” states The Gender Index 2024 report focused in the UK landscape.
This is what we’ve been up to 🤸🏽♀️
In February we talked at TechArena in 🇸🇪 Stockholm. Curious about what went on? Here you’ll find a concise summary of all the panel talks, made possible with Voxo’s AI.
Kinga moderated a panel on Creating Momentum via Diversity in Tech with panelists Tero Mennander and Vanessa Vallely . Some of the topics discussed include the status quo of the markets and the huge opportunity that engaging half of the European population and more would bring.
A notable speaker was Al Gore stating that "The number one best thing people can do is to be very vigorous and active in the public discussion to get politicians at every level of government activated to move faster to reduce the emissions." and indicating "I am here to recruit you!"
We also attended 4YFN 🇪🇸 in Barcelona, the world’s largest and most influential connectivity event that connects attendees to a global online community of founders and investors.
In collaboration with Adara Ventures, TheVentureCity, and OVHcloud, we organised networking drinks, bringing together an inspiring mix of women in VC, entrepreneurs and our invaluable male allies. The atmosphere was nothing short of vibrant and open, creating the perfect backdrop for meaningful connections and collaborations to flourish.
Key takeaways were:
the need for inspirational figures who have successfully navigated the challenges of the VC and startup world.
access to opportunities, chance for mentorship, establishing credibility, learning from peers, and better access to funding.
male allies play a pivotal role in dismantling barriers and promoting inclusivity. Acknowledging the existence of biases, both explicit and implicit, is the first step.
We also hosted a breakfast event with Azahara García Espejo from Hearst Lab and Alexandra Kalina Capdevila from Borski Fund in a truly innovative space, the Norrsken house, “Norrsken is an impact ecosystem where entrepreneurs can find everything they need to make saving the world their business. Our work stems from a belief in entrepreneurship and new technology as forces that can positively impact the world”. This was possible through the support from Amanda Kai Putley.
Online events 🖥️
As part of our Lunch and Learn series we hosted a discussion on Corporate Venture Capital with Ornit Shinar of RAIN, Ida Christine Brun of Maersk Growth and Emmarique Delahaije of KPN Ventures.
Mark your calendars for the upcoming Lunch & Learn session on impact investing scheduled for April 12th. Don't miss out—secure your spot by signing up here!
And finally, we had another successful Meet the LP session - an interactive dialogue sharing insights and first hand advice on navigating the VC landscape. Elodie Donjon, Anna Finizio, Céline Lévy, Ségolène Le Marec and Maria Demenopoulou from 🇪🇺 European Investment Fund (EIF).
More than 50 fund managers gathered to participate in two insightful deep dive sessions: "EIF’s Assessment Process - Busting the Myths," and "Legal Fundamentals: What You Need to Know".
Almost 70% of capital committed by EIF is to emerging and first time managers, in 2023 EIF committed almost 15 billion euros to VC and PE funds.
You’ll find us next 🧳 at
Insurtech Insights, taking place on March 20th and 21st in 🇬🇧 London is offering 30% OFF tickets with code WVCE30 - Register here. Thank you Sophie Winwood!
Hello Tomorrow, 21 to 22 March in 🇫🇷 Paris
Wolves Summit, Scale Up with Wolves and European CVC Awards, 26 March 🇩🇪 in Berlin
Iceland Innovation week, 15 to 16 May 🇮🇸 in Iceland
Latitude 59, 22 to 24 May in 🇪🇪 Tallin - Use code EWVCxL59 for 20% discount on tickets
⭐ SuperVenture, 4 to 6 June 🇩🇪 in Berlin - We’ll be hosting a side event on the 5th of June, a GP/LP Lunch ✉️ Contact us to get an exclusive invitation ✉️ info@europeanwomenvc.org Discount code: FKR3549WOMENVC
South Summit, 5 to 7 June in 🇪🇸 Madrid
London Tech Week, 10 to 14 June in 🇬🇧 London
🙌🏼 People who inspired us lately
Mary Dillon, the CEO of Foot Locker 👟, rose from cleaning houses to pay for college to leading a $3 billion retail giant, a journey often overlooked.
Born in Chicago, Mary Dillon, the fourth of six siblings, excelled academically and worked various jobs to fund her education at the University of Illinois Chicago.
With determination and support from mentors and her husband, Mary shattered ceilings, becoming a respected CEO in the retail industry, yet her remarkable story remains largely unheard of. Thank you Jennifer Stojkovic for sharing it.
Ritu Narayan, founded Zūm as a solution to her kids’ school bus 🚌 unreliable pick up up times. Faced with several delays with pick up which would turn her work life upside down, Ritu decided to take matters into her own hands. Initially resembling a self-financed Uber model, Zūm operated as a transportation service for school children, utilising a pool of trusted private drivers. Parents scheduled rides in advance and monitored their child's whereabouts through the Zūm app. After partnering with schools across the country, a risk that could collapse her company, Zūm is now a privatised school bus fleet, valued at $1.3 billion. Read the full story here.
Fiona Alston interviewed four female investors across Europe who hold significant value for any Irish female founder's contact list. Ekaterina Gianelli 🇫🇮, Viktorija Trimbel 🇱🇹, Nora Bavey 🇸🇪 and Kaari Kink 🇪🇪.
There are considerable investment opportunities within the broader European ecosystem that should not be overlooked. Read the full article here.
In other news 📺
Borski Fund increased their portfolio to 16 companies and plans to add five further investments. The fund's investment strategy has a triple-diversity perspective, with investments led by a predominantly female team in companies founded or co-founded by female tech entrepreneurs. Alternatively, it focuses on enterprises offering products and services for women that have a positive impact on women. The €40M fund invested €1M in deeptech CarbonX 🇳🇱 as part of a €10M round and another €1.1M in green chemistry DUDE CHEM 🇩🇪 as part of a €6.5M round. These startups create new sustainable alternatives in the production of EV batteries and chemicals used in medication. “You cannot drive more sustainable systems change by only investing in digital propositions. At some point, there also needs to be investment into the hardware and this is what these companies offer.” Simone Brummelhuis, director and partner of Borski Fund.
Carbon Equity, a climate fund investing platform, raised €100M for climate solutions through its Climate Tech Portfolio Fund II. The initial target was €75M, yet they managed to more than double the size of Fund I which closed at €42M in 2022. Carbon Equity’s differentiation is that it enables investing from €100k in innovative climate technology through private equity and venture capital funds, giving access to a previously gated category reserved for institutional and very wealthy investors.
Women-led funds bagged 3% of the total $107B VC funds raised globally in 2023, per new research published by Venture Capital Journal. The share of capital raised by women-led VC funds increased from less than 2% in 2022.
"When women invest in women, they also bring to the table more than just capital; they're introducing the social network that is needed to be successful" said Dr. Elizabeth Clayborne, the founder of NasaClip, which raised $3.25M over the last four years, mostly from women investors.
What we are reading and listening to
Listen to Dr. Gesa Miczaika, founding member of EWVC and general partner at Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund, on “How do you build a bridge between female founders and the traditional VC world?”
Listen to a collection of inspiring stories from a group of amazing women put together by EUVC!
Read Pitchbook’s new report on European Female Founders in the VC Ecosystem
A list of 150 + VCs investing in female health and fem-tech! 🚀
You might also like 📚🎧
Check out the short guide to Angel investing for non-partner VCs
When it comes to building a digital product on a global scale, you can count on a secure, sustainable and cost efficient infrastructure with OVHcloud. The French unicorn, gone public in 2021 and being the leading European cloud provider, serves over 1.6 million customers all over the world thanks to its 40 data centers. It has also supported close to 4.000 startups in the past few years via its Startup Program.
We're a squad of over 1000 senior female venture capital wizards from all over Europe and beyond. We're here to flip the script and make things right.
Join us in shaking up the VC world! 🚀
See you soon,
European Women in VC
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