If Diversity is Good for Business, Why Don't Venture Capitalists Bet on Women?
How many people have had ideas for innovative technology that they believe could change their industry? And what holds you back?
For many female founders the answer to this question is yes, and funding. Today, according to a study by PitchBook only 2.8% of VC funding goes to female entrepreneurs. Getting a business off the ground is difficult, Quesnay is hoping to make it easier, diversifying the financial industry with competitions aimed at encouraging women in FinTech.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the Female Founders in Fintech: Final Pitch, held by Quesnay, hosted at Nasdaq and judged by a panel of predominantly women, from the top financial institutions in the country.
The finalists included:
Stratyfy run by Laura Kornhauser aims to change compliance standards, ensuring companies modeling is run without bias, and allowing a company to change these bias metrics using their AI.
TOMO Credit, CEO Kristy Kim, is shaking up the way companies give credit. Her own algorithm looks not at a score (which she believes to be outdated), but at a person's: income, spending habits, education and savings to determine their credit worthiness.
HomeZada, CEO Elizabeth Dodson created an All-In-One suite of apps to manage one's home, taking the confusion out of buying, selling and running a household.
clinicPesa, COO Sharon Anyango, is attempting to change the way healthcare is addressed in Uganda and all of Africa, allowing individuals to save, and apply for micro loans to cover the difference in medical bills, so never again will someone be forced to put a price tag on a human life.
AgriLedger, CEO Genevieve Leveille is utilizing block chain technology, to offer financial services to farmers who need them as well as creating a ledger to allow consumers to track where their produce is coming from, and how it is treated on the way to the table.
Diversity has been proven to drive innovation, and market growth. An article in the Harvard Business Review outlined these findings in their research based upon national represented surveys. However, at the current rate of inclusion, Jennifer Byrne in her opening remarks said "it will be another 110 years until we have bridged the gap".
After spending the night listening to all these incredibly smart, driven women pitch their ideas for shaking up the financial industry, I leave hoping more events like this encourage capital investors to bet on women to be the innovators and leaders these industries need.
