Does India Have Enough Number of Female VCs?

Venture capital – remains a challenge for women entrepreneurs in India. Arpita Ganesh, founder and CEO of Buttercups, recollects how she had approached 200 investors at one point of time.

Entrepreneur India spoke to Lathika Pai, Managing Partner, Tekinroads Consulting LLP at the Women Entrepreneurship Day event, which was an extended initiative of United Nations (UN) supported initiative WED.

“There is no common cliché problem for women as much as that the business plans that the business plans that are coming across are not the strongest, both men and women,” she said.

“What I’ve observed as to why women are not getting funded is because the business plans that come to us do not really instil the confidence in terms of wanting to fund. You don’t want to fund a business only because it’s run by a woman, you want to fund a good business plan,” she adds.

Lathika is also the founder of SonderConnect – The Future is Female is a platform to invest and mentor women entrepreneurs.

Why aren’t there enough VCs in India?

“I think it’s the same like why is there no woman president in the United States! It’s just that it’s not happening… Investment management and venture capital has been pretty much a male dominated industry, there are more and more women getting into this field and I think it’s a matter of time that women get success here,”

Having said that Lathika also noted most of the banks in India are run by women. “I honestly believe that not many women have come out and gone to be VCs. If they chose to become VCs, I think they would become very successful ones,” she said.

Lathika stressed on the fact that every woman out there should first think of creating a viable business and then think of financing and venture capital.