Panelist: Investing in Diversity, closing the gender gap with female-led funding

What was covered

Jeremy was a panelist on “Investing in Diversity: closing the gender gap with female-led funding” at the EdTech Asia Summit on Friday 3 November 2023, at the time as Chief of Staff at Monk’s Hill Ventures and host of the BRAVE Southeast Asia podcast. The panel looked at why female founders raise less capital, why gender-diverse startups do well, and what education has to do with it.

Key points

• Date and time: Friday 3 November 2023, 10:45–11:30am
• Moderator: Hester Spiegel (Founding Partner, Epic Angels)
• Panelists: Ruby Nguyen (Founder, Curieous), Nandita Ganapathy (Partner, Kaizenvest), Jeremy Au (Chief of Staff, Monk’s Hill Ventures, and host of BRAVE Southeast Asia) and Natalya Twohill (impact investor)
• The biases investors carry, how to reduce them, and whether female founders need different support
• How startup media coverage skews towards vanity metrics such as round size, which Jeremy was asked about as a podcast host
• Why gender-diverse startups tend to do well, and whether women need less outside capital to build real businesses
• What education has to do with the gender gap, and what the future of learning for women looks like
• A rapid-fire close, including capital versus post-investment support, and whether technology, education or private-market investment will advance gender parity most sustainably