Did you know that start-ups founded by women generate more than male-founded start-ups? But only 18 percent of New Zealand’s angel investments go to female-founded businesses. New Zealand  Trade and Enterprise is addressing this clear gap through their annual InvestHER event, that went global for the first time in 2023.

As part of New Zealand’s Trade and Enterprise’s drive to showcase the country’s capabilities in entrepreneurship, they have brought forward female-led businesses on the global stage.

Seven leading female entrepreneurs from New Zealand are speaking at the InvestHER event in Singapore to a crowd of 120 global investors.

Driving an initiative to talk about the gender inequality in investment, Invest New Zealand, part of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise hopes these Kiwi businesses secure investment as well.

According to Harvard Business Review research in 2020, female-led businesses receive around 2.3 percent of venture capital funding.

In New Zealand, 18 percent of angel investment goes to female-founded businesses.

Across New Zealand and the world, females are finding it hard to access capital and resources to mature their businesses, which is creating a large gap in the venture capital space.

Read more: International Women’s Day: Celebrating the female entrepreneurs of NZ

To address the clear gap within venture capital, Invest New Zealand held the annual InvestHER to connect and champion Kiwi females in business. The 2023 event in Singapore is the first to take place overseas.

Underpinning New Zealand’s global strategic investment platform ‘Do Good, Do Well’, InvestHER is showcasing that businesses that are inclusive, sustainable and innovative are likely to deliver strong financial returns.

“Per dollar of investment, start-ups founded by women generated 78 cents, while male-founded start-ups generated 31 cents. It is proof that if you ‘Do Good’ in business by fostering a culture of inclusivity and equality, you’re more likely to ‘Do Well’ via strong financial returns,” says Senior Executive of Angel Association, Suse Reynolds.

Some of the businesses at the InvestHER event include Dr Angela Lim of Clearhead, an AI-first mental-health platform, Karnya Young of Enpot, a mechanical technology start-up, Grace Glass of Natural Paint Co, a sustainable paint brand and much more.

“Working with Kiwi founders every day, we see first-hand the considerable depth and scope of wahine-led businesses and their tremendous growth potential, while simultaneously striving to do good for the planet and society as a whole,” says Dylan Lawrence, General Manager of Invest New Zealand at NZ Trade and Enterprise.

“We also know that female-led start-ups are found to be more solution-focused and quicker to adapt to change and are proud to have seven of our world-class female-founded New Zealand businesses in Singapore.”