Far from Levelling the Playing Field: Understanding the Gender Differences in Venture Capital Financing in India
Loading...
Date
2022-01-26
Authors
Jacob, Manna
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Waterloo
Abstract
Despite all the government initiatives aimed at empowering women in India, women entrepreneurs continue to face significant financial challenges in the country. The women may gain access to debt capital, but they have limited access to equity capital in the form of venture or late-stage funding. This study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of venture capital (VC) funding during the period 2015-2020 for women-owned enterprises in India by comparing the venture capital investments in firms led by women and men across the stages of financing, industry sector, geographic location, and size. The findings from the study indicate that in the past decade venture financing of women led businesses have improved in India, both in terms of the number of investments and the amount of dollars invested. However, in terms of the amount of dollars invested, firms with women founders receive much lesser than the firms with no women founders. The research findings will help investors in devising ways to use investment capital to bridge economic and social gender gaps and provide a strong evidence base for integrating gender considerations into investing strategies in countries such as India.
Description
Keywords
gender, entrepreneurship, venture capital, startup, India, investment, women