On 27 June, WomenINvestEU held its first online networking event on “Driving forward opportunities for women in leadership in investing: Going beyond the established patterns and statistics”. Gurpreet Manku, CEO at Level 20, delivered the keynote speech, setting the stage for an engaging discussion by revealing insightful data on the representation of women in investment roles across Europe.
Level 20 is a not-for-profit organisation with the goal of increasing the percentage of women in senior positions in European Private Equity (PE), particularly in investment roles, to a least 20%. With 13 chapters spread across Europe and the support of 120+ PE and Venture Capital (VC) firms, Level 20 is empowering women working in the industry, encouraging new female talent to join and supporting firms on taking practical steps to enact change.
Advancing important conversations with data from
across Europe
The Level 20 European Gender Diversity Report 2024 paints an optimistic picture of the evolution of female representation in senior and mid-level investment roles in European VC and PE. The report considered numbers from 764 firms and 11,558 investment professionals across the 13 European countries in which Level 20 has active chapters.
On average, the sampled PE and VC firms had around 14% women in senior roles, up from the 10% recorded in 2022.
At the junior level, the representation remained around the same, with 35% of investment professionals at junior levels being women.
Making the case for diverse investment teams
and identifying the drivers for gender equity
Answering a question about the possibility of the numbers of women in senior positions within the investment industry capping out once “token” female representation has been achieved, Gurpreet gave an optimistic response.
“A lot of this is about making the case for why diverse teams are a good thing. The whole point is that you’re opening up your pipeline for talent. It’s a fiercely competitive industry. You’re getting differing viewpoints in the industry (…) That’s the whole benefit of having diversity because that leads you to make better investment decisions, which ultimately leads to better returns.” – Gurpreet Manku, Level 20
Gurpreet also shared some of the themes and feedback that came up in the focus groups held for the report, which identified the main drivers for gender equity. The participants highlighted the importance of quality feedback, transparency and clear expectations on what it takes to progress, effort to bust myths and wrong perceptions about the industry that may affect recruiting, as well as effective training and good sponsorship.
Sharing good practises between EU regions
When broken down by the country, the data paints different pictures about the number of women in leadership roles in the VC and PE industries. The United Kingdom (UK), Sweden and France are the top performers when it comes to having women in leadership roles, with Denmark, Germany and The Netherlands lagging behind with below average numbers. Interviews and focus groups collected for the report provided some insights into these gaps.
“We’ve also found that in some countries, it’s more about what the firm itself can do culturally and at an organizational level to improve the industry. […] But in other countries, it’s also sociocultural barriers that make it challenging for women to succeed in business.” – Gurpreet Manku, Level 20
Expanding on this topic, the report reveals that, in some countries, the lack of access to leadership positions is tied to existing cultural expectations regarding what women should be doing once they have their children. Lack of access to appropriate childcare also impacts women’s career prospects.
This “worrying variation” in the data across countries was highlighted by Jenny Tooth, Vice-President for Diversity at Business Angels Europe and Chief Executive at UK Business Angels Association, who questioned the audience about their experiences within their own countries and organisations.
One of the interventions from the audience gave a closer look into the situation in Sweden, one of the highest performers in the report. The criteria established by the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth during recent public tenders, which considers the gender diversity in the investment team, was brought up as an example of a good practise.
Agniezska Wodjyr, Policy Officer at the European Commission, also offered the examples of the the European Investment Fund (EIF)’s criteria, which takes the presence of women in senior positions in the investment committee into account when selecting funds and also considers a Fund’s overall “gender strategy” and commitment to backing women-led startups. In the UK, Gurpreet highlighted the impact of the due diligence questionnaire created by the US-based Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA), as it has enabled Limited Partners (LPs) to think about how they could collect this information on diversity and sustainability on a more systematic basis, and created space for important conversations.
Participants were invited to these and other good practices from their ecosystems through WomenINvestEU’s survey on Good Practice models, which will serve as the basis for an upcoming European Guide.
WomenINvestEU is proud to have organized this discussion in its first online networking event and to have counted on the collaboration of Level 20. Find out more about our goals and membership criteria here and complete our Call for Expressions of Interest form if you would like to become a part of the network.
