Women Angel Investors Invest $105k in For-Profit Social Venture PhilanTech

Monika Jansen October 20, 2011 Tweet

The Pipeline Fellowship, an angel investing bootcamp for women, announced today 2 investments to boost the role of women investors.  PhilanTech received $50k from the fellowship, and anothoer $55k from the fellowship’s alumnae network, Pipeline Angels.

It is no surprise that the number of women in leadership positions at startups is small.  While recent studies have shown that women-led startups and companies with diverse leadership teams are more likely to be successful, only 12% of startups pitching for angel capital were women-led and, of those 12%, only 26% secured financing, according to a report by the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire. By the same token, only 12% of U.S. angel investors were women, and only 5% were minorities.

PhilanTech, if you are not familiar with them, is an online grants management system that helps organizations maximize social impact while minimizing environmental impact.

The NYC-based Pipeline Fellowship trains women philanthropists to become angel investors. Fellows commit to invest in a woman-led for-profit social venture in exchange for equity and a board seat at the end of the training. Their goal is to diversify the investor pool (see above!); they plan to expand to Boston this fall – great news for female entrepreneurs in New England!