The Billion Dollar Fund aims to tackle the gender funding gap for women-founded startups
The Billion Dollar Fund, a recently launched consortium of venture funds that aims to tackle the gender funding gap for women-founded startups, has secured $70 million in pledges by UAE’s Mindshift Capital and Global Ventures, and Cairo-based Flat6Labs, the consortium announced today in a statement.
Founded by Shelly Porges, Sarah Chen, Anousheh Ansari, Nadereh Chamlou and Anu Jain, TBDF was launched last month, and has been able to secure more than $500 million in pledges until now. The consortium wants to empower female entrepreneurs worldwide. TBDF is trying to strengthen its global footprint and expanding their investor base by tapping into the new markets including MENA and and mobilizing the local investor scene to gender-diversify their portfolios.
“We are investing in women-led tech companies in the MENA region because they deliver high financial returns and are often undervalued. Arab women entrepreneurs represent an integral part of founders in the region and tend to build businesses around problems that they face in their lives. As a women-led fund manager based in the region, we understand and value these oppportunities.” said Heather Henyon, Founding General Partner of Mindshift Capital.
The statement highlights that only 14% of the entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa (according to a study by ArabNet) are women compared to a global average of 17%.
www.menabytes.com
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