Only 17 of India’s 108 unicorns have been founded or co-founded by a woman, according to data from Tracxn. Unicorns with at least one woman co-founder include Byju’s, Nykaa, BigBasket, Mamaearth, Lenskart and MobiKwik. Others on the list are The Good Glamm Group, Open, Zomato, Amagi, Acko, 5ire, Lead School, Pristyn Care, Infra.Market, Zenoti and Shopclues.
Women have limited access to capital, a report by Kalaari Capital published on Tuesday showed. For every Rs 100 of venture funding, all-women founder groups in total get less than Rs 1. While mixed teams of men and women get around Rs 9, all-men founder teams walk away with the lion’s share of Rs 90.
Vani Kola, managing director, Kalaari Capital, said queries to women entrepreneurs on what was holding them back revealed that it was “bias in access to funds” rather than family, support or peer networks. “Having more women around the table while pitching definitely helps. We’ll be doing more to have gender not be discussed as a topic at all in the future,” Kola said.
Divya Gokulnath, co-founder, Byju’s, believes that the stereotypical upbringing of women in India has left them with little self-belief. “The realisation that women can both take care and take charge is largely missing,” Gokulnath told FE.
Several other female founders have highlighted that access to capital was among the primary reasons that discouraged them from setting up businesses. Mohandas Pai, chairman, Aarin Capital, believes the government has the funds and should set up an institution like the Small Industries Development Bank of India
“India needs a special women entrepreneurship fund of Rs 5,000 crore which will invest in startups where women own more than 40% equity, because availability of capital is the biggest issue. Also, regular state-level hackathons, where women participate and the winners are awarded Rs 50 lakh to start their own business, needs to be held across the country,” Pai said.
The representation of women is even smaller for top roles. Falguni Nayar of Nykaa — a beauty and personal care company — was the only woman to be leading a unicorn until Oxyzo, a fintech platform, helmed by Ruchi Kalra, raised $200 million and became a unicorn. Indeed, Nykaa and Oxyzo are the only two unicorns that have a women chief executive. India has no other woman at the executive position among new-age companies valued at or over $1 billion.
Gokulnath believes the opportunity for women entrepreneurship is huge and yet untapped. She calls for a co-ordinated effort to create an enabling and comprehensive policy framework so that they get equal access to finance. Moreover, she feels that networking channels for women by women are needed. “Above all a cultural mindset shift is needed and the issue needs to be addressed at an ecosystem level,” Gokulnath told FE.
“In my opinion, women are very cautious when they start an enterprise, and are more risk-averse so they hesitate to take the first step. But some industry initiatives will encourage more women to start up,” Pai said.
According to Kola, investor self-reflection matters. “We have had people say that it’s only a perception but for a moment, if you assume it’s only a perception, but perceptions are the truths women are living with — so what can we do about it?” Kola said.