Of 16 British companies that have achieved unicorn status in recent times – a valuation of $1bn or more – Darktrace is the only one that boasts a female founder.
Poppy Gustafsson, CEO is the lone woman. The other 15 businesses in a list compiled by the BusinessComparison website all feature all-male founder teams.
Forbes
photo caption: In short supply: too few women are getting the opportunity to found businesses GETTY
Amongst the bosses of the UK’s most exciting start-ups, Poppy Gustafsson, the CEO of cyber security specialist Darktrace, stands out.
Ms Gustaffson launched the business just five years ago but were she to sit down with the founders of her fellow unicorns, the contrast would be very obvious. The other 15 businesses in a list compiled by the BusinessComparison website all feature all-male founder teams.
What explains the gender gap in entrepreneurial activity at this level? After all, while the lack of women in the boardroom of established British businesses has long been of concern, this problem has begun to ease, with more than a fifth of FTSE 100 company directorships now held by women.
The problem appears to be connected to both supply and demand. On the one hand, surveys of female entrepreneurs often highlight a lack of confidence, with women much more likely to worry about whether they’re up to the job of launching new enterprises. On the other, the male-dominated investment industry seems to be skewing the access to finance that women enjoy – even those women confident enough to go it alone struggle to secure the funding they need.
“We have spoken to a number of female entrepreneurs to better understand the obstacles that those seeking to start a business face,” says Philip Brennan, the managing director of BusinessComparison. “They have told us that ‘Imposter Syndrome’, childcare responsibilities and access to finance to grow their business rank highly as limiting factors in their opportunity to scale.”
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