Craig Newmark is the founder of craigslist. His latest venture, craigconnects, helps drive peer-to-peer, grassroots civic engagement and philanthropy to support veterans and military families; trustworthy journalism; voting rights and women in tech.
Women tech founders face an uphill battle getting in front of VCs and raising money. That’s true in Silicon Valley, which still has the look of a college fraternity, and it’s true in tech hubs like London, Berlin, and Amsterdam. It’s bad for women; and it’s equally bad for the tech industry, since the exclusion of female talent and leadership crams down innovation and growth.
The gender gap in tech is widening globally, only 10 percent of investor funding goes to women-led ventures. And as few as 10 percent of positions at leading tech companies are occupied by women.
Europe shows the same trends we see in the Valley: booming growth, but disproportionate numbers of women in leadership and meager VC investment in women-led startups. In the UK, the second largest European startup hub after Berlin, male entrepreneurs are 86 percent (almost always) more likely to receive VC funding than their female counterparts and 56 percent more likely to secure angel investment. Tech is supposed to be a meritocracy, but it’sunfortunately still more like a ‘mirrorocracy.’
With the funding odds…