Leading female investors in the CEE region discuss the role of female founders, and what more can be done to improve the gender balance
But who are these female startup investors? And what kind of companies are they looking for?
By Kit Gillet in Bucharest for Sifted EU
The European venture capital industry is overwhelmingly male-dominated, with women making up just a tenth of all senior roles, according to the London-based firm Diversity VC.
This is no different in central and eastern Europe, despite a wealth of female tech talent. But there are still a good number of leading women investors in the region paving the way for more to follow.
But who are they? And what kind of companies are they looking for?
Sifted reached out to eight of the leading women investors from across the CEE region to talk about their investments and what can be done to encourage — and back — more female founders.
This is what they had to say.
Kinga Stanislawska, Poland
Kinga Stanislawska is a general partner and cofounder of Experior Venture Fund, a leading VC fund based in Warsaw and the first European VC fund set up and managed by women. She’s also vice president of the Polish PE/VC Funds Association (PSIK), and established the European Women in VC platform, with the aim of increasing the number of female partners at venture funds across Europe.
Recent investments: Experior invests in data-driven software companies of CEE origin. While few to date have had female cofounders, the fund has helped recruit board members to management boards, with a preference for women. As a result, it has managed to achieve over 40% female representation in startups it has funded.
Q: How has the involvement of women in the entrepreneurial sector in Poland changed in recent years?
Women in Poland are incredibly entrepreneurial. They are risk-takers who are active in setting up companies. Poland is a leader in Europe in this respect. Some very large public and private companies are led by women; see Dominika Kulczyk at Polenergia, Malgorzata Adamkiewicz at Adamed, Anna Rulkiewicz at Luxmed, Ewa Schmidt at Empik.
From a VC standpoint, this does not look as rosy, as few women founders set up companies that are highly scalable with global ambitions. This is definitely changing slowly, with many initiatives such as the Women in Tech conference, workshops and mentoring organised by Perspektywy, targeting late high school to university/polytechnic students and those in their early careers. Initiatives like this will hopefully bring about more women in tech and more female tech founders.
Continue reading…
