Did you know? 35% of female founders have experienced gender bias when raising capital.

As if raising investment isn’t already hard enough for female founders, the data continues to get worse. Let’s break it down.

Female founders received just 2% of venture capital funding last year. With stats like this, it’s no surprise that women make a conscious effort to invest in other women.

But here’s the kicker. New research has found that when a female venture capitalist backs a female founder, it’s assumed she received special treatment because of her gender. As a result, female-founded businesses that receive funding from female venture capitalists are two times less likely to raise additional funding in the future.

So, if women rely solely on funding from men, they’re less likely to receive any funding at all. But if women rely on funding from other women, they’re less likely to receive any future funding. It’s a no-win situation.

AllBright was founded with a mission to put more money in the hands of more women. So, we won’t stop until this cycle is broken.

Our Pitch Day events are our commitment to helping ambitious female founders access the funding and expertise they need to scale their businesses. And, at our Female Founders Pitch Day in partnership with LG Gram last month, something special happened that reminded us it’s not all doom and gloom.

Sitting on the panel alongside AllBright co-founder Anna Jones and Retail Manager at LG Colette Green was an active angel investor. With over 100 angel investments, she supports start-ups focussing on female health.

Then, in walked Jas and Jo ready to pitch Luna App, unaware they were about to be part of a Pitch Day first. But before we give away any spoilers, let’s set the scene by hearing the elevator pitch for Luna App.

Female co-founders Jas and Jo are on a mission to revolutionise the way female-assigned teens experience adolescence. Luna App is their answer to breaking the taboos around teen health and closing the education gap so that female-assigned teens can feel educated and empowered to make informed decisions about their health and wellbeing as they move into adulthood. Because teens today deserve better than what we got.

This got us thinking. What did we get? We spoke to some of the AllBright team about the ‘education’ they experienced at school about their sexual health and wellbeing. And whilst their answers are shocking, they’re sadly unsurprising.

‘I went to a catholic girls’ school that didn’t believe in sex education.’ 

Courtney, Global Cultural & Community Programmes Lead 

‘We had to listen to a song with the lyrics ‘some of your bits just ain’t nice.’ This created a sense of shame around our bodies from a young age, instead of normalising and being educated on them.’

Daisy, Social Media Manager

‘I was just taught that abstinence is the best protection.’

Jasmine, Product Manager

‘My sex education lessons at school involved looking at images of STIs and implying that if you have sex, you will get an STI. There was nothing on sexual wellness, understanding your body, periods (other than to identify pregnancy), or even how to deal with an STI if you did get one. Looking back, it felt very much like scare tactics rather than anything useful to help you through the difficult years of being a teenager and body changes. I would have loved something like the Luna app when I was at school.’

Laura, CRM Manager

Clearly, the angel investor felt the same. Because what happened next was a moment everyone in the room won’t forget any time soon.

After Jo and Jas pitched Luna App to the panel, Anna invited her fellow panellist to ask a question. Quick to sing their praises, she said Luna App is ‘such a brilliant concept and very much needed.’ Then, she offered them a £50,000 investment on the spot.

This wasn’t special treatment because of their genders. This was talent recognising talent. It’s as simple as that.

In fact, in a Tweet after Pitch Day, the angel investor admitted, ‘I’ve never been the sort of woman who loves all women activities. In fact, I left a couple of all female angel groups as the vibe didn’t work for me. However, I was on a panel yest @weareAllBright which made all female activities seem really positive. Weirdly loved it! ✨’

If this isn’t proof that we’re changing the narrative and breaking the cycle, we don’t know what is.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, when women come together, amazing things happen. Connecting like-minded women online and IRL is what we do – and this is why we do it.

Want to help us change the narrative and the numbers? Keep an eye on our events for more Pitch Day events happening soon, both virtually and IRL.

Disclaimer

AllBright cannot guarantee that all of the information provided in this video or article is accurate. Use the information provided on our website at your own risk. If you wish to make an investment you should seek independent financial advice before doing so, and ensure that you have carried out your own research on the product or company that you are investing in. Any advice provided is not tailored to anyone’s individual situation, as each individual is in a different situation. AllBright does not accept any liability whatsoever for any action taken or losses incurred as a result of the information provided on our site.