The current state of women-led companies in Games and Tech
With the ongoing waves of layoffs in games, I’ve been coaching a few women in reevaluating their careers and considering starting their own companies. But is that a good idea, and where to start? 🤔
That question led me to look into the current state of women-led companies in games and tech.
Stats from the European Game Developers Federation (EGDF) in 2022: out of 110,000 employees in Europe, 24% are women.
Additional source collected by Kim Nordstrom for his book Up, Down, Up (Thanks, Kim!): out of 7 funds, 400 companies, and 1,000 founders surveyed, 11.89% of CEOs and 8.95% co-founders are women.
Games have been more or less on par with other industries regarding gender parity in executive positions. So here are additional data points:
– Among the top CEE companies, 19% of the executives and 8% of CEOs are women
– In VC firms in Europe, women in decision-making power positions (GP level) represent 15.2%
– In the US, only 2% of investments in start-ups are for women-led ventures, although 38% of startup founders are women.
So, what do we do with it? 🤷🏻♀️
I will focus on that topic in future episodes of the Rise and Play podcast 🎧 , providing resources to get ready to raise, and which options to explore.
➡️ Check the latest episode with Ioana Hreninciuc, Julia Palatovska and Aurora Klæboe Berg, focused on do’s and don’ts raising for seed and round A 💡
Here are my findings for now:
– Women approach building companies and fundraising differently, which doesn’t always match what is expected from the investment side (human bias): demonstrate a high level of confidence and ambition, heavy reliance on network, and a “like me” effect… How to overcome that?
– Statistically, we need more women funding companies, so we see more examples of women who raise and exit, feeding a success cycle of more women raising and exiting…
– But then, how do we ensure women-led companies manage to raise successfully? What are the resources available?
I have been exploring out of games lately and was amazed by the number of resources available in tech to support more women to fund companies. Naming a few sources here: #WomenTechEU, accelerators and incubators focused on diverse founders such as Antler, avant now // innovation for impact and Fund F by Female Founders, and female-focused angel syndicates like RadCap.
