"Access to capital is crucial for fostering entrepreneurship, fueling business growth, and enhancing productivity. Unfortunately, femaleentrepreneurs in developing countries face significant challenges securing formal financial support and making lower profits than maleentrepreneurs. While the evidence on the gendered investment gap is well documented, scant evidence-based studies investigatewhether the disparity arises from investor bias. Authors Shibiru Ayalew, Shanthi Manian, and Ketki Sheth implemented a large-scale field experiment in a high-stakes natural context to identify whether loan officers exhibit discriminatory behavior in capital allocation decisions for businesses inEthiopia. The experimental study showed no evidence that financial providers discriminate against women-owned businesses in reviewing loan applications."

"Female founders raise less capital from investors than male founders, even if their ventures are similar or identical. However, providing systematic evaluation frameworks could encourage investors to assess all candidates equally, thus reducing gender disparities. In this vein, the authors – Amisha Miller and Saurabh Lall – investigated whether changing systematic evaluation practices could close the gender gap in investment decisions. The authors designed and implemented a two-stage experiment in collaboration with Village Capital across different developing regions across Africa, South Asia (India), the Middle East, and Latin America to reduce gender disparities in investment decisions. The experimental findings confirm that using a systematic evaluation framework – prompting investors to consider both risks and growth, as well as progress – reduces or even reverses gender disparities in investment decisions. This study provides strong causal evidence for an intervention that can be implemented right out the gate at a low cost: providing a systematic evaluation framework to investors."

"Este relatório examina o cenário do investimento de impacto na América Latina e no Caribe para 2020 e 2021, com base em uma amostra de investidores de impacto ativos na região, destacando tendências, principais desafios e oportunidades, e apresentando mergulhos profundos na atividade em três dos países da região: Brasil, Colômbia e México, além de uma análise sobre a Guatemala. Entre suas conclusões, o estudo mostra que os investidores de impacto estão buscando cada vez mais retornos ajustados à taxa de mercado, se mantendo flexíveis de acordo com as necessidades específicas de países e setores. Além disso, revela que os investidores de impacto ainda dependem fortemente de ferramentas próprias de medição de impacto, no entanto, um número crescente deles utiliza metodologias existentes para atender aos requisitos de medição de impacto. Acesso a capital, educação e treinamento e o ambiente regulatório local são identificados como os desafios mais comuns a serem superados para liberar todo o potencial do ecossistema empreendedor da região por meio do investimento de impacto."

This report provides insights into the startup ecosystem of Bangladesh, first describing the limited access to capital and infrastructure, the lack of necessary skills, and the absence of a supportive regulatory framework that have impeded the growth and development of startups in Bangladesh. It aims to identify the current state of the startup ecosystem in Bangladesh, exploring the challenges faced by startups, and analyzing the trends in startup investment in the country. It points to the significant growth in the number of startups and the total amount of investment in the sector, along with the increasing interest of foreign investors in Bangladesh's startup ecosystem, and the need for policy reforms and infrastructure development as imperatives to create a more conducive environment for startups to grow. Finally, the report highlights the potential of the startup sector to drive economic growth and job creation in Bangladesh and calls for increased government support and private investment to foster the growth of the startup ecosystem.

"The gender financing gap persists. Women-led startups raise significantly less capital than startups led by only men. According to PitchBook Data, in 2021, 85.4% of global VC dollars went to startups with only men on the founding team.

That number has hardly budged over the past decade — despite the fact that data continues to suggest that women-led startups outperform startups with all-men founding teams. For example, a BCG study found that women-led companies generate more than twice as much additional revenue per dollar invested (78 cents versus 38 cents) and a PitchBook study found that women-led startups reach their exit stage a full year earlier than all-male-founded startups (median 6.4 years versus 7.4 years).

For investors, focusing on only a fraction of all entrepreneurs means they leave significant opportunities for returns on the table. For startups, this gender financing gap means promising innovations do not receive the resources they need to scale.


That is why Village Capital partnered with IFC, We-Fi, the World Bank, and researchers Amisha Miller and Saurabh Lall to identify and test several concrete ideas for how to help close the gender financing gap. With the support of a research coalition that also includes Visa Foundation, Moody’s, ANDE’s Advancing Women’s
Empowerment Fund, Sasakawa Peace Foundation, and ANDE’s SGB Evidence Fund, we have identified several promising interventions.


Now we are sharing our results, and encouraging investors and accelerators to take action."