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The Shark Tank of Web3: How this DAO is bridging the funding gap for women founders

The funding gap between male and female-led ventures worldwide is still far from close to being equal.

The numbers are still nowhere near where they should be, but when looking at the growth that occurred in 2021, it is evident that we are progressing in the right direction, but there is still so much left to do!

Let’s discuss the numbers that rolled in for female entrepreneurs at the end of 2021. We must understand where we are in our push for equality to better tailor our methods as we proceed to break glass ceilings and bridge the gap between men and women both in 2022 and beyond.

The hard-hitting truth in numbers

Some key points to note from the year we’ve just transitioned from:

  • On average, women-founded companies grew by 84 per cent compared to male-founded companies, which grew by only 78 per cent in 2021
  • VC funding reached all-time highs in 2021, but female-founded companies received just two per cent of funding, which is the smallest share since 2016
  • Teams of male and female co-founders obtained 15.6 per cent of the total VC funding in 2021
  • Per the Boston Consulting Group, female-owned start-ups generated US$0.78 in revenue for every dollar invested, while male-only start-ups generated US$0.31 in revenue for every dollar invested.

Women-led businesses are not slowing down. In fact, they are growing. Historically, female entrepreneurs have been recognised worldwide for success in sectors such as fashion or cosmetics.

As of late, many female entrepreneurs have been able to scale exponentially in other industries, especially mission-driven and client-focused, such as real estate and biopharma.

While women have proven their ability to become successful in business, they are still forced to face hurdles such as societal expectations and lack of representation, capital, and support, resulting in fewer entry points for women to break through into strong business networking opportunities.

Last year was a big year for VC funding as all-time highs were reached in investment dollars. Unfortunately, with a sharp increase in funds being disbursed, female-founded companies received only two per cent of that funding.

In years past, that percentage has fluctuated, but two per cent truly marks the smallest share for female founders since 2016. At this point, female entrepreneurs are growing regardless of the numbers working against them.

Also Read: Levelling the playing field: How to build a home for women in tech

This is one of the very reasons we’ve founded Angel Alliance, to help empower and fund female entrepreneurs worldwide that deserve the recognition that VCs are failing to provide them today. For female entrepreneurs to acquire more funding, we will need to see an upward shift in representation.

By making entrepreneurship accessible to more women around the world through networking opportunities, supporting female growth in STEM, and providing reasonable means of education, we will begin to see an increase in confident women who believe in their skill sets enough to break through the glass ceilings that’s been placed on them.

It is evident that VCs are making an effort to empower women more, but it is also clear that they feel far more confident in doing so when men are also involved in a project.

Quite an interesting topic, though, when you think about female-founded businesses’ abilities to generate more than twice as much revenue per dollar invested than male founded businesses.

One can’t help but wonder when we’ll cross the threshold of needing a male founder to entice VCs and over into a world where female founders are viewed equally as capable as any male entrepreneur. 

Women have potential

Total global income for women is expected to grow from US$13 trillion to US$18 trillion within the next five years! While there’s no clear prediction regarding female funding, there’s one thing we know for sure; it can only go up from here.

If this projection is accurate, then the growth we saw last year for female entrepreneurs is a mere glimpse into what is just around the corner. Countless barriers need to be broken on the path to equality in the entrepreneurial and professional worlds.

Suppose women can truly continue to inch closer towards the overall income men achieve. In that case, the rest of the world will finally begin to realise that business capabilities are not distinguished by gender.

Angel Alliance: The gamechanger in the market

Angel Alliance is a collection of 6,666 unique NFTs launching on Ethereum on the 26th of March. The NFT project is poised to function as a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation, aka the AngelDAO.

Being a community-driven NFT project, our DAO structure will allow our NFT holders to maintain voting right in each decision made to extend our resources out to people worldwide that need them most.

One of the biggest issues facing female entrepreneurs is finding opportunities to thrive and grow. In 2020, only 2.3 per cent of VC funding went to female founders, and although that number has increased slightly over time, it still has yet to surpass 3 per cent.

Angel Alliance has been coined the “Shark Tank” of Web3 and is quickly gaining popularity as we continue to push forward on our mission to remedy this statistic.

We’re working daily to build a collection capable of empowering and uplifting entrepreneurs worldwide by providing them with grants, education, and exclusive access to resources and networking opportunities to help them scale their businesses. 

How is this DAO leading the change?

Angel Alliance is more than an NFT collection, we’ll be providing solutions to entrepreneurs’ greatest struggles, and we are the first NFT collection specifically dedicated to this cause.

Our goal is to build an uplifting community that allows women to share their business successes and struggles. Social media often creates a distorted image of reality that only shows the growth of someone’s business, not the hardships or low points.

Also Read: From women, to women: Celebrating empowerment in tech

We understand building a business is not easy, and we want women to come to our community to get advice, network with like-minded women, and build up their confidence.

Female founders worldwide will have the opportunity to pitch their businesses to our community, who will then vote on which projects they’d like to see receive grants directly from the DAO.

All grants provided will be a minimum of US$5,000, and any sector qualifies for application. As well as providing funding to founders, Angel Alliance will be offering weekly events hosted by experienced investors to help teach the community how to both apply and succeed in securing funding.

Angel Alliance will offer a bespoke mentorship and support programme to our community, which will match them with experienced professionals that can guide them through their entrepreneurial journeys.

Here are some of our minting rewards:

  • US$5,000 giveaway to whoever mints one of our special 1/1’s
  • World of Women NFT to one random minter from our pre-sale

 Here are some of our holder perks:

  • Exclusive networking
  • Educational workshops
  • Like-minded + supportive community
  • Business grant opportunities (up to US$15k)
  • Regular business advice + guidance
  • IRL + virtual events

Here are some of our partners and advisors:

  • BooHoo: Leading online fashion
  • Holly Shore: Fitness enthusiast and mentor
  • Kat Dunn: Humanitarian Capitalist, TEDxSpeaker, and Peace Prize winner
  • Arjita Sethi: Angel Investor, Entrepreneur, and NASDAQ Advisory Board Member

If you are a female entrepreneur reading this article, I implore you to dive into the world surrounding Angel Alliance.

We are working diligently to provide empowering education and resources, funding through business grants and investor relations, training workshops and guidance regularly, and virtual and IRL events around the world!

If you haven’t hopped into our Discord yet, please head over and take a peek at some of the resources, education, and community. We host giveaways and live podcasts regularly, too. All are welcome! 

Note: This article is not a piece of financial advice. We recommend that you do your research.

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Image Credit: zgel

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