Women founders need collective action across the ecosystem for growth: Study

There are 28,000 active technology startups in India, but out of these, only 18% have women founders or co-founders. A joint study, “Creating 10X Women Founders in India,” by TiE Delhi-NCR, Zinnov, Google, NetApp, and Indian Angel Network points out that one of the primary factors that prevent women from starting up comprise stereotypical myths and perceptions.

The primary obstacles faced by women and women founders and what steps need to be taken to encourage more women to start up form the crux of the study.

The study notes that the performance of startups founded by men and women across different metrics is comparable.

Also, it reveals that women-led unicorns generate employment and revenue at a comparable rate to those founded by men. Women founders have similar success rates to their male counterparts, with seven out of 1,000 women-founded startups reaching the late stage, compared to eight out of 1,000 male-founded startups. This comparability extends to the use of deep tech as well—8% of women-founded startups are leveraging deep tech, while a slightly higher percentage of 11% of male-founded startups use these technologies.

The study points out that despite comparable metrics, success, and high entrepreneurial intent, socio-cultural barriers hinder women founders’ growth. Their underrepresentation in tech and business also acts as a barrier to their entry into the ecosystem.

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The study reveals that the entrepreneurial intent of the Indian workforce, including women, is high at 76%. But gender roles make entrepreneurship a less viable career option for women. Additionally, the funding amounts raised by women founders are not at par with their male counterparts. This is because women founders seem more cautious to investors than male founders. Also, women-founded startups take longer to get ready to raise Series A—all these hinder women from becoming entrepreneurs or starting up.

The study proposes a two-pronged approach to bridge this gap. First, to identify the underlying causes, and second, to take definitive steps that yield tangible, measurable outcomes. It also identifies six priority areas for action, and outlines how to address each, with examples of successful implementation across the lifecycle of a woman founder’s entrepreneurial journey—from starting up to scaling.

Initiatives like Sequoia’s ‘She Builds’ series and the WEE Foundation’s programmes are encouraging women to take up entrepreneurship. In the latter stages, accelerator programmes such as Google for Startups and NetApp Excellerator help women scale their startups through dedicated mentorship, market access, and networks. SheCapital provides funding for women founders through their Diversity and Inclusion fund, and Encubay through their Angel Investment Network.

“Women founders have proven their ability to successfully build startups, with over $30 billion in the total valuation of unicorns and 800+ B2B businesses that they’ve built," said Atit Danak, Partner at Zinnov, adding, "However, despite their success, women founders still face challenges and biases in the Indian start-up ecosystem. Addressing these challenges is critical to unlocking the potential of 10X women entrepreneurs and bridging the existing gap. With buy-in and collaboration from the larger ecosystem, equity is possible.”

Srikant Sastri, President, TiE Delhi-NCR, commented, “By launching this report, we aim to outline actionable steps,and identify key focus areas and frameworks that will help create a more inclusive ecosystem that benefits all.”