Gender stereotypes and fundraising: A qualitative study on female entrepreneur's experience of raising external capital in the Swedish market

Sammanfattning: More capital than ever is invested in Swedish tech startups, but only 1% of the capital goes to female-founded companies. The same trend is observed on the global level. Research regarding this huge gap, the underlying reasons, and female entrepreneurship is emerging, but studies investigating women's own experiences of the process of raising capital are almost non-existing. Hence, this study aims to investigate how women in the tech industry perceive the fundraising process through venture capital firms and business angels. In addition, it outlines their expressed success factors and the changes they believe are needed in order to decrease the male-female gap in the world of entrepreneurship. To answer the research questions, a qualitative method is used and ten interviews with female founders within the tech industry are conducted. The findings of this study confirm the existing barriers proven by previous research and highlight the presence of gender stereotypes and their effects. Further, the positive consequences of increased diversity, gender equality, context-specific knowledge, empowering and inspiring women by focusing on their success stories are discussed.