How female founders are faring in the Midwest
0How female founders are faring in the Midwest.
Women remain underrepresented in tech, even as the industry tries to address jaw-dropping statistics about their absence in tech’s upper echelon. Less than 3 percent of female founders raised venture capital in 2017, even though in the first quarter of 2017 17 percent of startups reported having a female founder. On the venture capital side, less than 10 percent of partners are women.
This national trend holds true across the Midwest. Based on data from PitchBook, Crunchbase, and my firm, Hyde Park Angels, of the 20 highest-valued companies across Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, just six feature female leadership in the C-suite.
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Even more strikingly, only four venture and private equity-backed companies with publicly disclosed valuations above $85 million had female CEOs. This elite group comprised Illinois-based OneSpace and Levo Therapeutics, Michigan-based Millendo, and Ohio-based Eloquii Designs.