Women have founded companies and held the cofounder and founder chair but today many are transitioning to CEOs, which is an important transition, Arunkumar is vice president at Eight Roads Ventures India, while Bhatia is partner and head of technology (consumer and financial services investments) at Eight Roads Ventures India
As India evolves to become a global economic superpower, our startup ecosystem is also witnessing a transformation of its own. According to a Nasscom-Zinnov report on the Indian startup ecosystem, the share of women-founded (or co-founded) startups has almost doubled from 10 percent in 2016 to 18 percent in 2022. Interestingly, they had a similar success rate compared to their male counterparts across all funding stages (seed to late-stage), which confirms that when provided with the right support, women-founded startups produce equally strong economic outcomes compared to their male counterparts.
In a BCG report, global studies have shown that startups founded or co-founded by women typically hire 3x more women and generate about 10 percent more cumulative revenues over a five-year period. We have more women founders today than we did a decade ago, and increasingly more who are CEOs of their own companies. So how did we get here?
(This story appears in the 24 March, 2023 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)