A business accelerator program for entrepreneurs with optics, photonics, and imaging (OPI) enabled technology, Luminate has supported more than 60 startups in its portfolio. Nineteen of them are women-owned and operated. The experience of nurturing entrepreneurs, identifying and understanding their needs, and helping them gain knowledge and support that is critical for growth, sheds light on the persistent discrepancies faced by women.
Despite claims that women entrepreneurs in technology are making headway in the support they receive in boardrooms and investor pitches, a scant 1.9% of venture capital funds went to women in 2022, a drop from 2021. Look further at capital invested in women of colour and the situation is even more dire.
This reality puts women entrepreneurs at a significant disadvantage, especially those of colour given they typically do not have access to the same networks as white or male founders.
Luminate helps to address this gap. It invests $100,000 in startups selected for its six-month accelerator program and gives each finalist an opportunity to win additional funding when they graduate from the program. We also help them secure outside funding and witness firsthand how it’s more difficult to secure support for women entrepreneurs.
It’s fair to say women entrepreneurs face uphill battles that their male counterparts do not. Knocking down barriers to even the playing field starts with recognizing the unique business challenges women entrepreneurs face and providing necessary support. Here are some key takeaways from Luminate’s history of supporting women in technology and considerations to advance gender equity in the tech community.
Penalised for serving as lone wolves, women tech entrepreneurs need access and coaching
Luminate participant Leslie Kimerling, Co-Founder and CEO of Double Helix Optics (DHO), a startup offering high-precision 3D imaging solutions based on Nobel Prize-winning technology, has relied primarily on grant funding and early product sales to grow her business to date. “When I started DHO, given the investment statistics and being a deep tech company, I never thought to build the business based on venture capital funding,” she said. “That is why an organisation such as Luminate is so critical to companies like ours.”
Women, who statistically have fewer entrepreneurial resources than male counterparts, often single-handedly build businesses. They are taught to be self-sufficient and aggressive — it’s what gets them to the table — yet, they are often penalised for those very qualities when they attempt to secure funding. Many are criticised for their lack of resources, such as a developed team or access to specialised data and industries, and their assertiveness can be seen as being uncoachable or difficult.
For that bias to change, women need economic support, mentorship, and coaching. They need assistance accessing expertise, hiring staff, and learning to use the resources available to them. It starts with identifying gaps to fill. For instance, by connecting Clare Murphy, Founder and CEO of Layer Metrics, with economic development programs and regional support to help cover her living expenses, she was able to invest in her idea for the first-ever built-in, multiplexed metrology and sensing system for real-time process monitoring and get her startup off the ground to revolutionise the manufacturing supply chain.
Another Luminate entrepreneur, Noel Goddard, Co-Founder of Qunnect, a startup that is creating quantum networking devices that will serve as the foundation of the Quantum Internet, benefited from a connection to the defence industry, an “in” that propelled her technology toward commercialization.
Women aren’t looking for instant returns – they’re often tackling hard tech problems to make a difference
Luminate is seeing more women entrepreneurs aiming to solve complex problems — women like Dr. Cara Wells, Co-Founder and CEO of EmGenisys. She is developing technology to evaluate embryo health to improve pregnancy outcomes of In Vitro Fertilisation.
According to Dr. Wells, “The Luminate program, in my experience, uniquely supports women in two of the most challenging industries: entrepreneurship and STEM. Interestingly, each of the female founders in my cohort is a technical founder of their company with a PhD in a STEM related field. We are all neck-deep in building and launching scientific innovations which are notorious for being capital intensive and slow to launch (due to the R&D, testing, and precision required to go to market).”
Many are building companies to solve problems in high-risk categories, such as quantum hardware, and developing technology that enables other innovation. For example, Dr. Juniyali Nauriyal, Co-Founder and CEO of Photonect, promotes greener data centres by introducing technology that makes fibre placement on chips faster, more accurate, and less expensive than current adhesion methods.
Shelby Nelson, CTO of Mosaic Microsystems, is enabling other technologies and manufacturing approaches by providing a packaging technique that uses an extremely thin layer of glass between the transistors and the circuit board to enable them to function as one.
Unlike sexier plays, these technologies are in for long-haul rides that aren’t likely to deliver returns on investments for many years. While every entrepreneur is motivated by making a profit, these talented women scientists and leaders recognize the significance of their technology and are willing to see it through for the greater impact it will have.
Unfortunately, a long ride to profit isn’t always conducive to securing venture capital, and founders often struggle with financial and other support. Identifying long-term trends, matching them to cutting-edge talent, and helping entrepreneurs meet very specific needs can help overcome financial hurdles to bring new technologies to market.
The tech industry needs a crash course in reading the room
The investment community is heavily male dominated — only 4.9% of U.S. venture capital partners are women. The imbalance and the dynamics created pose a challenge for women entrepreneurs seeking funding.
In our experience, women entrepreneurs are often forced to walk a tightrope in investor meetings, attempting to strike a balance between being firm and being a receptive, adaptable investment. Too often, they are criticised for asking hard, pointed questions. Some are brushed off by investors for being too loud and pushy. If they weren’t making their voice heard, they’d still be in the hallway, yet demanding attention often costs them critical funding.
To rectify the problem, there’s a complex balance that needs to be found in communication between women entrepreneurs and the male-dominated investment community. It needs to centre on mutual respect, for the sake of women entrepreneurs and their innovations and for the investment community that stands to make a profit.
Bridging the gaps to create a more equitable industry
The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that advancing women’s equity could raise the global GDP by $12 trillion by 2025. That’s impressive, yet the world has far more than money to gain from encouraging women entrepreneurs and supporting their innovations. Their ideas transform lives and industries, they create other jobs for women, and they pave the way for other entrepreneurs.
Evening the playing field starts with identifying promising women, including women of colour, and delivering the support they need to succeed while making them feel that someone truly has their back.
