One billion dollars pledged for investment into female founded companies

19 June 2019, Paris, France - The Billion Dollar Fund for Women (TBDF), a global consortium of venture funds tackling the gender funding gap, has reached its goal of mobilizing US$1bn in pledges, only eight months after its launch on October 11th, 2018.
The news was announced at The Billion Dollar Breakfast™ at the Financial Alliance for Women Annual Summit in Paris by TBDF Co-Founders and Managing Partners, Shelly Porges and Sarah Chen, today.

“Today marks a great milestone on our journey to ensuring parity for undervalued founders. We are extremely proud of the meaningful commitments made by our partner venture funds dedicated to fostering equitable access to funding for women-founded companies. Fund partners from all around the world have pledged their support to a common purpose: backing and scaling innovative companies with female founders. The over one billion dollars pledged to be invested through the end of 2020 will have a decisive impact on not only the female economy but the economy at large, even as it delivers outsize returns for investors”, says Ms. Porges.

Studies have shown, that businesses founded by women deliver more than twice as much revenue per dollar invested . Though women-founded companies received only 2.2% of venture 1 funding in the US in 2018, such companies deliver up to 63% higher returns than companies founded by male-only founding teams . Globally, teams with at least one female founder receive 2 only 17 cents to the dollar, and this amount has plateaued in the last few years. 3
“Women are a powerful force in the global economy and more and more diverse financial services organizations are recognizing the value of the female economy. Our recent transformation from Global Banking Alliance for Women to the Financial Alliance for Women reflects the growing need to diversify beyond banks to support women’s economic empowerment,” says Inez Murray, CEO of the Financial Alliance for Women.
“The Financial Alliance for Women is now positioned to catalyze real transformation – both in the industry and for women everywhere. We are excited to partner with The Billion Dollar Fund for Women and its partner funds to accelerate growth in venture funding for female founders,” she adds.