More than a third of women entrepreneurs have faced bias in raising capital, HSBC report says

More than a third of the world’s women entrepreneurs have experienced gender bias when raising capital, with women in Hong Kong, mainland China and Singapore investing more of their own money to start a business, according to a report by HSBC Private Banking.

Women secure 5 per cent less capital on average globally, according to the “She’s the Business” report, and 61 per cent of women surveyed said they had to pitch for capital in front of groups of investors solely made up of men or predominantly men.

On average, women globally put £115,786 (US$142,841) of their own money into their businesses, according to the report. In mainland China, women entrepreneurs invested £159,851 on average in their businesses, compared with £125,033 in Hong Kong and £121,118 in Singapore.

“Over the last few years, we have undertaken substantial research into the journeys and motivations of entrepreneurs. Whilst entrepreneurship as a whole has been flourishing, we were disconcerted by the fact that still today, female entrepreneurs represent just 3 per cent of deal flow,” Antonio Simoes, chief executive of HSBC Private Banking, said. “While the proportion of women-led start-ups continues to grow, female entrepreneurs are statistically still playing catch-up.”

The report took data from an online survey of 1,202 entrepreneurs, including 604 women, and in-depth interviews with seven female entrepreneurs and six investors. They had to have secured or were in the process of securing at least £100,000 in outside capital. Entrepreneurs in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the United States were surveyed in June and July.

According to Pitchbook, companies solely founded by women only received 2.8 per cent of venture capital funding in the US through October 2, in a slight improvement from the 2.3 per cent in all of 2018. Companies co-founded by men and women have received 11.9 per cent of overall venture capital funding so far this year.