Welcome to our #91 weekly newsletter.
“For women taking control of their financial future”
-Jana Hlistova
From The Purse
In this week’s newsletter, we focus on a US report published by Pitchbook and supported by JP Morgan and Beyond the Billion on Women in VC.
Whilst the pandemic disproportionately impacted female founders in 2020, female-founded companies have shattered the previous annual deal value record in just the first three quarters of 2021. And crucially, the number of US female investors is at a record high.
You can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.
I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.
Until next week,
Jana
More female founders are being funded and female investors are on the rise
A new US report confirms that the startup & investor landscape is changing for the better, for women.
Female founders have an uphill climb when it comes to accessing capital for their startup. In general, it takes women longer to raise and they raise far less money compared to their male peers.
A new report (US) published with support from J.P. Morgan and Beyond The Billion, found that whilst the pandemic disproportionately impacted female founders in 2020, female-founded companies have shattered the previous annual deal value record in just the first three quarters of 2021, as per Pitchbook.
And crucially, the number of US female investors is at a record high:
At the end of 2019, 12% of general partners at venture capital firms were women and there were 740 female angel investors.
Today, women make up 15% of general partners at venture capital firms, and there are now 1,000+ female angel investors.
Female investors are crucial…
…to women getting funding for their startups.
Based on research, women invest in female founders three times the rate men do. They also apply a new lens to investing and represent the lived experience and perspective of 51% of the population.
Women will appreciate products and services aimed at the female market in a way male investors simply can not -unless they invest the time and do the research. And many simply do not.
Female founders are not only up against gender bias, but they have to spend more time educating the majority male investors on their market and product.
It follows that female entrepreneurs have less resources to run their company for longer, so when they do raise capital (for their startup), they tend to be more effective money managers and generate a greater return on investment.
As more female founders exit their companies and generate higher exits, we’re likely to see more capital flow back into women.
Women (and men) investing back into women is a crucial part of diversifying the money flow, backing female founders, growing entirely new industries and companies. And ultimately driving higher returns on investment.
Here are the key points from the report (US only):
Female-founded companies raised $40.4bn across 2,661 deals through the first three quarters of 2021, shattering the previous annual deal value record of $23.7bn in 2019.
Venture investors have closed over 2,000 deals totaling $30bn with female-founded technology companies thus far in 2021 – an 83% increase in value over 2020 levels already.
Exit value year-to-date ($58.8bn) has more than doubled the previous annual record, marking a 144% increase for female-founded startup exits compared to the overall US VC market's 102% increase.
Exit volume is also up, with the 223 liquidity events by female-founded companies in 2021 representing a 12% increase from full-year 2020 figures. 2021 is on pace to be the eleventh straight year that female-founded companies exited faster than the broader market (with a 3% increase).
Gender lens investing is simply good business.
News in Brief
Financial news
The S&P 500 Index gained 2% this week, marking its 5th straight weekly advance, the longest winning streak since August 2020, BBG has calculated.
The US Federal Reserve will start tapering back is stimulus program (bond buying at $120 a month) from mid November and should end June 2022.
The European Central Bank (ECB) balance sheet stagnated in the past week as weekly gross PEPP (pandemic emergency purchase program or money printing) purchases declined markedly. Total assets now at €8,366.1bn, equal to 80% of Eurozone GDP vs Fed's 37%, BoE's 41% and BoJ's 133%.
Bank of England (BoE) leaves interest rates on hold ie at 0.1%. This came as a surprise as many investors expected a big hike. (Also, Britain’s expected economic growth rate in 2021 was trimmed to 7% and the forecast for 2022 was cut to 5% vs 6%).
Bank of England (BoE) has lifted its inflation forecast, with consumer price index (CPI) peaking at 5% which is more than double its target rate of 2%.
UK government to set fresh targets for female FTSE board representation. FTSE-listed companies have until Tuesday 30 November to submit their women in leadership data.
Aviva CEO, Amanda Blanc, has said put more women at the top of multilateral organisations to help alleviate the financial impact of climate change. (About 80% of people displaced by climate change are women, but only 19% of International Monetary Fund and World Bank board members are female).
Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum & DeFi
Bitcoin dominance weakens as altcoins rally. Bitcoin’s price moved between $60,000-$63,000, while altcoins and gaming tokens have seen significant gains. Solana’s SOL token has rallied 21% this week, breaking through its all-time high on Thursday. Ether (ETH) also climbed to a record, hitting $4,628 on Nov. 3. It is up 2.4% on the week.
Decentraland’s MANA up 44% as metaverse tokens surge in wake of Facebook’s Meta rebrand.
Shiba Inu crashes as SHIB whales sell enmasse. SHIB lost market capitalisation to Dogecoin and slipped out of the top ten cryptocurrencies.
Squid Game cryptocurrency collapses in apparent scam. Squid token’s website and social accounts disappear after price jumped more than 310,000% in value and then crashed.
CME Group plots to launch micro ether futures. The upcoming launch, planned for December 6, is pending regulatory approval.
Galaxy Digital starts NFT collection CryptoPunk, according to Mike Novogratz. Galaxy Interactive, an affiliate of Galaxy Digital, raised $325m for a second fund to invest in non-fungible tokens and interactive gaming last month.
Crypto exchange, Coinbase announces that eligible customers can borrow up to $1m (using bitcoin as collateral).
US social media giant Reddit may soon convert users’ karma points to Ethereum based (ERC-20) tokens and onboard 500m new crypto users in the process.
Coffee Break? Read This
‘I don’t have a choice’: childcare cost preventing US women from returning to work
A quick explainer of COP26 -here’s how climate negotiations work and what’s at stake
We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and @janicka.
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New report: more female founders are being funded and female investors are on the rise