Women make up just seven per cent of fintech company founders worldwide, with little evidence that things are changing, according to a Deloitte report.
The number of fintechs involving women founders has grown at a slow pace over the last decade. In 2019, 12.2% of 3017 new startups were founded or co-founded by women, up from 10.9% in 2010. Women-only founded startups accounted for 3.1% of the total pool in 2019.
The picture is similar when it comes to funding: cofounded start-ups raised 11.2% of the $40 billion total funding in 2019, up from 6.2% in 2015. During the period, the share of total funding directed toward fintechs founded only by women rose from 0.6% to 1.3%.
Women-founded fintechs, on average, raised 50% less capital than startups founded only by men. Founding teams with both men and women received just three per cent less funding.
In order to take on the problem, the reports says "three key stakeholders in the fintech ecosystem — investors, founders, and financial institutions — will have to join forces and commit to change. They will need to work together to help enable equal access to all forms of capital: human, financial, and social."
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