If you haven’t heard about it yet, in 2017, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy’s Digital Hub Initiative was set up to support the establishment of 12 digital Hubs across Germany. The Start-up Games is the event that brings together the most innovative startups from these Hubs to pitch their company in front of a distinguished panel of VCs. But this year will be a little different. For the first time, the Games will be judged by an all-women panel of VCs. For startups, the potential investment offered by VC firms is essential for growth, yet in 2020 European startups founded by women and mixed founding teams of both women and men only received 2.2% and 12.2% of total VC funding respectively. Meaning teams with all-men founders received a whopping 85.6% of funding. Could having more diverse VC panels make a difference? Dr. Kim Zietlow, Director Trend & Innovation Scouting at Germany Trade & Invest, shared: We asked three startup leaders competing in this edition of the Start-up Games (who also happen to be women) about the challenges facing women entrepreneurs and how they felt about pitching to an all-women panel. Here’s what they had to say:
Johanna Riggers, CEO & founder of Kiezbringer Technologies
Johanna Riggers is ‘declaring war’ on the environmental pollution caused by online shopping and delivery. Her company, Kiezbringer Technologies, set to launch on June 28th, 2021 in Hamburg, will do this by slashing delivery times, while at the same time tackling the environmental impact caused by packaging waste and transport emissions. Their marketplace platform allows users to select items from local businesses. Then their system of ‘pickers’ purchases the items and packs them in a reusable cloth bag. ‘Riders’ then transport the packages via climate-friendly cargo bikes, free of charge. On top of her ambitious growth plans, Riggers also shared the personal motivation driving her forward. When I asked her about the challenges facing women entrepreneurs, she said: Indeed, an analysis conducted by Boston Consulting Group revealed that, if women and men participated equally as entrepreneurs, the global economy could receive a boost of between $2.5 trillion and $5 trillion. But just how can we make this a reality? Riggers’ startup is focused on tackling diversity, not just in terms of gender, but also background. They’re now cooperating with the ‘School of Diversity’ project which aims to offer refugees employment opportunities. When discussing whether improving the gender balance on startup competition panels and amongst VC firms could have an impact, Riggers said:
Eva Weber, CFO at Acalta
An anesthesiology physician, Eva Weber joined app-based patient care platform Acalta as CFO in 2019. Their solution “by doctors and for doctors,” was developed to boost patient satisfaction while alleviating physicians’ hectic time constraints. Acalta does this by providing a solution where care plans can be shared directly with the patient allowing them to take an active role in their treatment. This also enables clinics to collect data throughout the patient journey. I think it’s great and a step forward that we have an all-women panel of VC judges at the Start-up Games. We should create more awareness for this and communicate it as the new normal. According to Weber, the challenge facing women leaders is about addressing deeply entrenched norms our society still holds on to. Pinky Glove is a startup founded by two men who created a pink disposable glove that could be used to cover up and dispose of used tampons. After appearing on Germany’s “Dragon’s Den” reality show, they received €30,000 from a man on the investor panel who liked the idea. The problem was, customers weren’t looking for a better way to dispose of their tampons, much less a more expensive pink version of a disposable glove (which you can already buy in stores everywhere).
Where do we even begin? There is nothing unhygienic about period blood. This is period shaming. pic.twitter.com/Cu8LdeH7qT — Clue (@clue) April 15, 2021 Meanwhile, Ooia, a women-founded startup that developed ‘period pants’ which can be washed and reused, did not receive any funding after appearing on the show. Despite this, their product has found widespread success and they’ve since gone on to launch a line of nursing bras. For Weber, the evidence is clear that greater diversity in teams and VC panels isn’t just a way to tackle discrimination, but also to significantly improve decision-making.
Pia Schmitz, co-founder of HyLevio
Pia Schmitz is literally a high-flying startup entrepreneur with ambitions to completely disrupt the mobility industry. She co-founded HyLevio, a startup on a mission to eliminate unsustainable short-haul fossil-fueled aviation with the first hydrogen-powered, fixed-wing aircraft. I believe that gender-balanced and diverse teams which profit from a broader range of knowledge and experience will be more likely to choose the startups with better ideas instead of the ones conforming with their ‘male bubble’. And thus, giving women-led startups a fair chance. Schmitz shared that in the last months she’s spoken with many investors – only one of them was a woman: Indeed, while she agreed that this will be a good way to bring awareness to the issue, all-women panels won’t necessarily result in more fair and equal outcomes. Studies show that women are actually just as biased as men when it comes to evaluating women-led startups. The real key is to ensure VCs are conscious of the impact that bias can have on decision-making and have the tools they need to overcome this natural tendency. Luckily the panel for the Start-up Games is well versed in this area. For example, Janneke Niessen, co-founder of CapitalT, was one of the authors behind a 2018 study that revealed only 5.7% of VCs in the Netherlands, her home country, invest in startups with a woman co-founder. Meanwhile, fellow panelist Bettine Schmitz recently founded Auxxo, a women-focused fund. Pia Schmitz admitted that self-doubt and a tendency to be less confident when promoting herself were a challenge in the past. Imposter syndrome is a challenge that impacts many entrepreneurs (both men and women). However, speaking with the BBC, Emily Hu, a clinical psychologist in Los Angeles, stated that: I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. But it’s a big step out of your comfort zone and you need a lot of courage to quit your well-paid job and move into an uncertain and unknown environment. Additionally, women face a lot of prejudices. In general, I think we don’t see enough women in leadership positions. “We’re more likely to experience imposter syndrome if we don’t see many examples of people who look like us or share our background who are clearly succeeding in our field.” What did help Schmitz overcome this was having a great support network around her. With the first prototype of HyLevio’s aircraft now in the works and getting ready to break boundaries in the mobility industry, Schmitz is set to become a role model herself for the next generation of founders. On that note, I’m excited to hear more from these dynamic startup leaders and more during this edition of the Start-up Games. As a co-host, I’ll have the great pleasure of asking these entrepreneurs questions from you, our audience, during the event. So if you haven’t yet, sign up now!
