Are Early Stage Investors Biased Against Women?

Ewens, Michael; Townsend, Richard

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2953011

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Are Early Stage Investors Biased Against Women?

Journal of Financial Economics (JFE), Forthcoming

68 Pages Posted: 17 Apr 2017 Last revised: 22 Nov 2018

See all articles by Michael Ewens

Michael Ewens

Columbia Business School; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Richard Townsend

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) - Rady School of Management

Date Written: November 20, 2018

Abstract

We study whether early stage investors have gender biases using a proprietary dataset from AngelList that allows us to observe private interactions between investors and fundraising startups. We find that male investors express less interest in female entrepreneurs compared to observably similar male entrepreneurs. In contrast, female investors express more interest in female entrepreneurs. These findings do not appear to be driven by within-gender screening/monitoring advantages or gender differences in risk preferences. Moreover, the male-led startups that male investors express interest in do not outperform the female-led startups they express interest in—they underperform. Overall, the evidence is consistent with gender biases.

Keywords: gender, entrepreneurship, angel investing, venture capital, Gender Gap, Bias

JEL Classification: L26, G24, J16, J71

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Ewens, Michael and Townsend, Richard, Are Early Stage Investors Biased Against Women? (November 20, 2018). Journal of Financial Economics (JFE), Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2953011 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2953011