In the venture capital world, which is oh so hungry for change, there is still surprisingly little progress being made in terms of gender equality. In both Europe and the USA, decisions on start-up investments are still made overwhelmingly by men, as studies by the data service Pitchbook on the occasion of International Women's Day show. According to the study, the proportion of female general partners (GP) at European venture capital companies with assets under management of at least 50 million euros was recently 15.2%. This is almost exactly the figure that the London-based „European Women in VC“ initiative had arrived at in its studies over the past two years.

In the USA – which is considered to be comparatively progressive, at least when it comes to appointing board members of large listed companies – the proportion of female GPs was only slightly higher than in Europe at 17.4%. In 2022, it still amounted to 16.1%. So there was at least a slight increase there.

Nevertheless, the figures show that, here and there, it is still mainly men who determine the technological future and the associated social change. After all, it is their investment decisions that give them the privilege of laying the foundations for innovative solutions to combat climate change, the shortage of skilled workers, and now even for the military protection of the prevailing value system.

These are all fields that also affect women – and to which women also contribute clever ideas. Nevertheless, female founders will continue to find it more difficult to access growth capital in the foreseeable future. This is because it has been scientifically proven that investors prefer to invest in teams that are similar to themselves (keyword: gender bias).

Against this backdrop, it is almost astonishing that start-up teams that are not purely male have recently been able to secure a larger slice of the VC pie in both Europe and the USA. Last year, 20.5% of all venture capital investments on the Old Continent went to start-ups with at least one female co-founder. In 2022, the share was still 15.1%. In the USA, the proportion rose from 18.7% in the previous year to 22.8% – not including the 10 billion dollar deal from OpenAI for statistical reasons.

So could it perhaps even be that the many gentlemen in the VC world are slowly but surely breaking old patterns in investment decisions? Possibly. After all, attention has been drawn to the problem and its economic consequences – including for the funds – now and then in recent years. On the other hand, media reports suggest that venture capital firms often fail to retain their few female talents and free themselves from the image of the so-called „boy's club“. The industry should urgently address this issue if it is really interested in a sustainable transformation of the economy.