Privilège Ventures launches fund for female-led start-ups

The Swiss venture capital firm Privilège Ventures has launched Fund IV to boost support for early-stage female-led start-ups across Europe.

The CHF20m (≈US$20m) fund is the first of its kind in Switzerland and aims to act on recent findings showing that for every US$1 of investment raised, start-ups run and co-run by women generated roughly twice the revenues on investments compared to male led companies.

The venture capital firm, which previously supported female-led femtech start-ups, says that the Fund IV will provide women support, expertise and network access on their journey to innovate and build successful companies.

“Our investment thesis builds upon strong statistical evidence that companies led by women are stronger performers,” said Lucian Wagner, Privilège Ventures founding general partner.

“The numbers are staggering. It’s not just about being ethical and doing good. Global GDP would grow six per cent if rates of entrepreneurship were equal between men and women.”

The analysis, conducted by Boston Consulting Group on investment and revenue data over a five-year period, has also shown that start-ups founded and co-founded by women received less than half the average investments made into companies led by men, even though the female led startups generated 10 per cent more revenues over time.

Jacqueline Ruedin Rüsch, Privilège Ventures founding general partner, said: “There are very few funds worldwide dedicated to backing female founders.

“And despite the rapid growth in the VC industry the percentage of female or gender-diverse led teams is falling.

“Combining the Privilège team’s extensive experience, the numbers supporting investing in women, and the tremendous energy in Europe driving young entrepreneurs, Fund IV taps into a an opportunity that few VC’s have seemed to recognise.”

In addition to Wagner and Ruedin Rüsch, Fund IV will be overseen by founder and venture partner Lea von Bidder, who founded the femtech health company Ava Women AG, L’inouï.

The fund will seek 15-20 seed and early-stage female led companies across Europe.

“Doing the right thing ethically and financially isn’t mutually exclusive,” said von Bidder.

“Female-led focused funds are a major untapped opportunity for venture funds and their investors and they are also simply the right thing to support”.

Privilège Ventures has already supported various start-ups, including von Bidder’s Ava Women AG, AgroSustain SA and IDUN Technologies AG.

Last week another European organisation, Female Founders, announced a €20m VC fund to drive gender diversity in tech, highlighting a growing trend among European investors.