85 percent of startups founded in 2019 are led exclusively by men, while 7 percent are led exclusively by women. The remaining 8 percent have both men and women on their management boards. This is according to an analysis of the commercial register by the industry service Startupdetector.
Last year, 2,289 startups were launched nationwide by a total of 3,493 founders, according to the InvestigationThe proportion of women was only 11 percent, which is even lower than the 19 percent that the KfW for the years 2016 to 2018. Broken down by federal state, Bremen has the most startups with at least one woman on the management board (20 percent). The lowest proportion of female founders is found in Saarland (9.1 percent). In Berlin, 16.7 percent of startups have female management, compared to 13.1 percent in Bavaria.
A similar picture emerges when looking at investments. Of the 982 startups that completed a financing round in the second half of 2019, 85 percent had a male management team, 9 percent had a mixed management team, and 6 percent had an exclusively female management team.
The industry makes a difference for women in startups
Looking at the individual sectors, the most female CEOs at startups are in the e-commerce sector. 24.8 percent of young companies there have female management. Second place goes to the food sector (24.7 percent), closely followed by healthcare (23.5 percent). This is followed by human resources (21.5 percent) and services (21.4 percent). There were no female startup managers in the construction industry in 2019. There were also very few in the mobility (4 percent) and blockchain/crypto (4.8 percent) sectors. female founders.
The study authors suspect the reason for this unequal distribution is the low number of female graduates in the relevant fields of study. In doing so, they agree with the assessment of KfW Chief Economist Fritzi Köhler-Geib which lead to the publication of the KfW Startup Reports said:
"The startup scene in Germany is lacking women. But Germany cannot afford to forgo the innovative impulses and economic dynamism they generate. Therefore, efforts to attract women to technical and scientific careers must be intensified, and barriers removed. Furthermore, economic knowledge and skills should be taught in schools. Last but not least, female founders' access to venture capital must be improved, which would have a positive impact on the entire startup community. More successful role models would encourage other women."
The statistics also show that female CEOs of startups founded in 2019 are, on average, somewhat younger than their male counterparts. CEOs, on the other hand, are slightly more likely to have a doctorate or advanced academic degree (men: 10.7 percent, women: 8.6 percent). Furthermore, 28 percent of men have already managed a company in the last ten years, compared to only 11.8 percent of female founders. Furthermore, women are equally likely to focus on B2B and B2C startups (49.4 percent B2B focus), while men tend to concentrate more on B2B startups (59.5 percent).
About the study
The report Startupdetector classifies innovative, mostly digital companies less than ten years old as startups that demonstrate significant growth and scaling potential and usually address digital target markets. The study is based on the commercial register.
