Diversity issues in start-ups revealed as 93% of funding goes to all-male teams

'Statistics make for grim reading'

At the end of last year, the 2018 State of European Tech report revealed another record year of investment, writes Andrew Wolfson managing director at Pembroke Venture Capital Trust.

An impressive $23bn was invested in firms such as iZettle, Revolut, and Monzo, up from $5bn in 2013. Beneath the record-breaking headlines, however, a different trend emerged. The report found that all-male founding teams received 93% of funding and accounted for 85% of all deals over the year. Meanwhile, nearly half of all women polled said they had experienced discrimination. This comes despite 75% of the report's 5,000 participants stating that the culture at their employer is inclusive. The work concluded that Europe needs to fix its diversity and inclusion problem urgently,...