Around 60 female managers from major corporations and female politicians have founded a support network in Germany, in order to make it easier for female start-up founders to access capital and contacts. Under the name "encourageventures," they want to help and support young companies in all phases of growth, as long as at least one woman is part of the founding team. The network is adopting the approach of "accompanying female founders from the founding idea to the IPO," initiator Ina Schlie explained. "In doing so, we encourage them to take the next steps, to think big, and we support and advise them throughout their journey with capital, expertise, and contacts."
The network also provides money: The plan is to build up a 100 to 200-million-euro fund from which investments will be made. This is to be carried out with the support of, among others, the Auxxo investment firm.
From the network's point of view, start-ups led by women still have a much harder time getting capital. "Only 5 percent of female founder teams have already received one million euros or more in external capital, according to the Female Founders Monitor 2020," says Alexa Gorman, who heads global startup activities at the software company SAP. "This compares to about 30 percent for teams with male founders."
In addition to Schlie and Gorman, the network's supporters include former German Economics Minister Brigitte Zypries, Deutsche Bahn's head of freight transport, Sigrid Nikutta, and Douglas CEO Tina Müller.
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