Approximately 18% of India’s total unicorns are founded by women, with 20 potential unicorns in the pipeline. India boasts of a vibrant ecosystem with ~28,000 active technology start-ups; but regrettably, only 18% of them have women founders or co-founders, said a new report.
One of the primary factors that hinder women from starting up are the stereotypical myths and perceptions prevalent in India, noted a joint study, “Creating 10X Women Founders In India,” by TiE Delhi-NCR, Zinnov, Google, NetApp, and Indian Angel Network.
The study also identified the primary obstacles that women and women founders encounter in their entrepreneurial journey, and highlights the critical steps that all stakeholders in the start-up ecosystem must take to encourage more women to start up in India.
Women-founded start-ups and Male-founded start-ups – a comparison
Interestingly, the performance of start-ups founded by men and women across different metrics are comparable, noted the study. Women-led unicorns generate employment and revenue at a comparable rate to those founded by men.
According to the report, women founders have similar success rates to their male counterparts, with 7 out of 1000 women-founded start-ups reaching the late stage, compared to 8 out of 1000 male-founded start-ups. And this comparability extends to the utilisation of DeepTech as well – 8% of women-founded start-ups are leveraging DeepTech, while a slightly higher percentage of 11% of male-founded start-ups use these technologies. In essence, women-founded start-ups are at equal odds of succeeding as those founded by their male counterparts.
Gender Equity remains a distant goal
Despite comparable metrics, success, and high entrepreneurial intent, socio-cultural barriers hinder women founders’ growth. Besides, their under-representation in technology and business domains also inhibits entry into the start-up ecosystem.
Though women founders have proven their mettle by successfully building billion-dollar businesses, B2B as well as DeepTech start-ups, precipitous challenges persist. Hence, the study draws attention to the obstacles that need to be addressed by the ecosystem, to achieve gender equity.
The study added 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. Add to this the fact that women-founded start-ups take longer to get ready to raise Series A, and it’s a trifecta of challenges hindering women from actively choosing entrepreneurship.
Atit Danak, partner at Zinnov, said, “Women founders have proven their ability to successfully build start-ups, with over $30 Bn in total valuation of unicorns and 800+ B2B businesses that they’ve built. 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, said, “TiE Delhi-NCR, through its focused initiatives, has been at the forefront of creating a level playing field for women entrepreneurs. By launching this report, we aim to outline actionable steps, identify key focus areas and frameworks that will help create a more inclusive ecosystem that benefits all. We’re grateful to our partners for their support.”
Sanjay Gupta, country head and vice president, Google India, added, “As we enter India’s digital decade, it’s also incumbent on this dynamic start-up ecosystem to reflect and review its own impressions and biases when it comes to women-led start-ups in the country. This report shines the light on this fast-growing community of women founders and calls upon the ecosystem to make India an equitable and inclusive land of entrepreneurs and progress.”
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