They’re called venture capitalists or sharks.
Australia’s venture capital industry has long been dominated by men but as more women jump in, the kind of startups getting up is starting to change.
Investors are navigating a complex world of high risk and legislative change.
Major VC firm, Main Sequence was started by the CSIRO.
It’s one of Australia’s biggest deep-tech investors with more than $1 billion under management.
The investment team was once all-male but now it’s 50 per cent women.
Last year, a report found startups received more than 5 billion dollars in funding, but just 2 per cent went to teams led entirely by women.
A growing number of venture capital firms are now tracking and sharing gender diversity data about their teams and deals, and there’s a push among advocates for national standards.
However, the industry is worried the government’s tax changes will push investors away from taking big risks on these types of companies to invest in established firms already offering returns.
Australian Investment Council chief executive, Navleen Prasad says they are concerned about a “capital crunch or capital squeeze”, particularly for early stage startups and scale up businesses in Australia.
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