The representation of women in venture capital and development funds – and companies that benefit from them – is progressing in the province, notes Investissement Québec, which unveils a new indicator on the subject on Friday.
Thanks to this new tool, Capital Femmes, the organization wishes to keep an eye on the place of women in the community so that this progress continues.
According to this new indicator, between 2016 and 2020, nearly a third of Quebec companies (32%) in which private equity funds that deal with the state corporation have invested were owned or directed by a woman. In all, more than half (52%) of the total capital deployed in Quebec by partner funds for this period, or nearly $ 355 million out of $ 684 million, was invested in Quebec companies headed by a woman, based on this analysis.
In general, “a positive trend is emerging in terms of the representation of women in investment fund teams,” also notes the state-owned company. For example, 70% of Investissement Québec’s partner venture capital funds have at least one woman partner in their management team, it is specified in a press release.
Encourage female representation
In the eyes of the CEO of Investissement Québec, Guy LeBlanc, the publication of this new indicator constitutes “a new milestone” in the efforts of the Crown corporation to support women entrepreneurs and business leaders, as it is. is committed to doing so in its 2020-2023 Strategic Plan.
“Our commitment to finance and provide more support to businesses owned or managed by women must also go through our investments in investment funds,” said Bicha Ngo, Senior Executive Vice-President, Private Placements at Investissement Québec. “These investment funds have a multiplier effect on the availability of capital, both in venture capital and development capital. They also promote support for portfolio companies. It therefore seemed crucial to us to measure the representation of women and to make our partner funds aware of the importance of having a more inclusive and diversified portfolio, ”she adds.
In order to continue to make industry players aware of this reality, Investissement Québec intends to carry out this analysis on an annual basis.
To establish this new indicator, the Crown corporation conducted a survey of investment funds with which it does business, whose capitalization totals more than $ 8 billion. These private equity funds have some 260 Quebec companies in their portfolio, it said in a press release.
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