On Point: THe ifundwomen blog
Key insights, tips, and advice for your funding journey
MARCH 1, 2020
Every month is Women's History Month at IFW
BY KAREN CAHN, FOUNDER & CEO, IFUNDWOMEN
It’s March, which means—hooray!—it’s Women’s History Month. It’s during this month that I find the reason for the existence of IFundWomen, the company created by me and my co-founders, Kate Anderson and Sarah Sommers, resounds most profoundly.
Let me explain why.
We started IFundWomen three years ago to solve a massive problem: the total lack of funding options for early-stage female entrepreneurs. Companies founded by women receive 2.8% of all venture dollars. Women of color receive a fraction of this, a mere 0.32%. (Pitchbook & Project Diane) And when women do get venture funding, we start with 50% less working capital than our male counterparts despite the fact that businesses founded by women deliver two times higher revenue per dollar invested than those founded by men. (BCG)
What do women do when they cannot access the capital needed to fund our businesses? We go into credit card debt, or we take out loans featuring both less capital as the loan amount and higher interest rates than men receive. (Fundera) This, despite women paying back loans in a more timely fashion than our male counterparts. (WSJ)