Women CEOs, founders must find the right investors to overcome challenges of fundraising, panel hears
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While the statistics might suggest that fundraising remains a challenge for women founders of companies, the tide on gender stereotypes is turning in Hong Kong, the latest event in the Redefining Hong Kong series organised by the South China Morning Post heard.
Fundraising might be more difficult for them in the very early stages, but pitching to the right investors was key to moving forward, said speakers at the event.
The discussion followed reports that suggest the Covid-19 pandemic has affected women founders and chief executives (CEOs) negatively. A second annual report released in December by PitchBook, the data provider for private and public equity markets, focusing on global venture capital investment in women founded start-ups found that funding to such founders was down 31 per cent from 2019, even as funding for all-male teams had dropped by just 16 per cent. HSBC’s “She’s The Business” report revealed in 2019 that 68 per cent of women entrepreneurs in Hong Kong were denied investment capital.
