Supporting Female Venture Capitalists Who Are Driving Social Impact

What I’m seeing as I mentor and coach entrepreneurs in the U.S. and globally is that more and more of them want to build companies that can make a positive social impact — in health care, in education, in the environment, you name it — and they’re still interested in making money.

It’s practically beyond argument that the problems we face are so enormous, we’re going to need more and smarter market-based solutions to solve them. And female entrepreneurs are well-positioned to seize those opportunities.

The research suggests that women’s investment decisions are more deeply influenced by their social and environmental values than men’s. If, as some finance experts predict, women will control 2/3 of the nation’s wealth by 2030 there should be a tremendous amount of female investor money finding its way to female-led or co-led companies trying to make the world a better place.

“We’re seeing an incredible and disproportionate number of female entrepreneurs coming our way who are deeply passionate about social impact businesses,” says Jenny Abramson, founder and managing partner of Rethink Impact, one of a growing number of venture capital firms specifically looking to invest in companies with diverse leadership, especially companies with female founders and CEOs.

But there’s a catch. Big investor capital has, for the most part, not yet caught this surging demographic and economic wave. Those stories are validated by some grim numbers — only 9 percent of VC investors are women and only 2.3 percent of VC dollars are currently being invested in women-run companies, according to a study from Pitchfork.

Here’s my primer on how to beat the odds:

• Know your worth.
• Learn to jujitsu investor gender bias.
• Geography isn’t destiny. 
• Stick together.

Read the full article about female venture capitalists and social impact by Fiona Macaulay at Inc.