Scale CEO Vlog
Scale CEO shares a map of the Australian female ecosystem and Research on women investors
Our board member Lynda Coker has mapped out the ecosystem of organisations focussed on female-led businesses across Australia. Scale is uniquely positioned as the only organisation which invests in early stage business at both the seed and angel investment stage, leading into series A. Scale is able to capitalise on our great pipeline of robust businesses that have been cultivated through this phenomenal building ecosystem. We also benefit from the great networks we have forged over the past six years, particularly in collaboration with groups like Springboard Enterprise and Heads of Heels. Take a look a the map of support for female founders here.
As mentioned in the video we also share information on investing, governance and engaging with women as investors and entrepreneurs. A recently published research paper answering the question - Do Female Investors Support Female Entrepreneurs? and the ongoing debate on why female entrepreneurs face greater challenges than their male counterparts do in raising capital for their companies is rooted in homophily – theory supporting the notion that women support women – is the argument that there are not enough female investors to support female-led firms. In the context of accredited investor-investee exchanges, there was exploration on whether the gender of investor and the gender of investee’s CEO are related. Using a United States sample of 529 investments from fiscal year 2018, it was found there is a significant association between the gender of investor and the gender of the investee’s CEO. These findings suggest that homophily may be a key social mechanism through which gender can impede or promote investment decisions. Download the Research here.
We would also like to take the opportunity to highlight the launch of The Female Leaders Fund, in collaboration with Acorn Capital Ltd. This is the first of its kind to the Australian market (we are seeing similar initiatives launched by Goldman Sachs in the US), enabling investors to access the best early stage female led business across the country. We are thrilled by the early commitment from investors. Queries and expressions of interest can be sent to: info@scaleinvestors.com.au by the end of August.
