Women-led startups rise to 18% in past five years: Report

In India's booming startup ecosystem, female founders have also turned their entrepreneurship journeys into successful businesses. According to a report by WISER's Women's in India's Startup Ecosystem Report, women-led startups have risen to 18% in India in the past five years.

India had roughly 6,000 startups 2017 of which 10% were led by female founders, and by 2022, it increased to 80,000 and the share of women-led startups risen to 18%.

As per the report,105 startups became unicorns in 2022 from 13 in 2017. Out of this, women-led startups unicorns increased from 8% to 17%, the report added. A unicorn is a startup company with a value of over $1 billion in the venture capital industry.

The WISER report comprises the participation of more than 200 startups including Urban Company, Meesho, Zomato, etc.

Also read: How women-led startups bridge the gender funding gap in India?

'Funding to women startups'

According to the report, VCs fundings for Indian startups were $5.9 billion in 2017, of which the fundings shared to women-led startup was 11% and by 2022, the VCs fundings rose to $21.9 billion. The corresponding share of funding to women-led startup rose to 20% by 2022.

"Even as the number of startups in India is growing at a tremendous rate (from 6000 to 80,000 over the last five years), the growth in women-led startups, both in numbers and funding, is outpacing the industry average. If this trend continues, we can hope to see the percentage of women-led startups continuing to rise over the next decade," Aakanksha Gulati, Director - ACT said.

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'Gender neutrality in startups'

The report underscored the rise of women in charge of startups in contrast to corporate firms. Startups are currently faring better than traditional enterprises, with 32% of women in managerial positions as against 21% in corporates. This gap widens further at the CXO level where corporates have only 5% of women in leadership positions against 18% in startups. Additionally, startups with a woman founder have 2.5x women in senior roles compared to male-founded startups. "However, while the overall figures are promising, significant work lies ahead - 10 years into their careers, 8 out of 10 men in startups occupy Director-level positions or higher, compared to only 5 in 10 women," the report noted.