Women represent only 20% of startup founders. This unequal figure becomes more acute when focusing on the investment they receive: only 2% of private capital goes to startups driven by women. The uneven distribution is not unique to Barcelona; it is a constant that is replicated in the global entrepreneurship landscape. To try to reverse this figure and move towards a more balanced scenario, multiple initiatives have emerged throughout Europe, including the WA4Steam business angels network, which brings together women who invest in women, from Barcelona.
Blanca Ochoa had been practicing law for three decades when she embarked on an IESE course on investment, from which a group of 35 women emerged, determined to bet on female leadership projects, focusing on science, technology, and innovation, especially in early stages. This is how WA4Steam was born in 2018, and since then it has invested 3.5 million euros in 35 startups led by women, with an average ticket of 100,000 euros per project.
--- How has the investment landscape changed since WA4Steam was launched?
--- In figures, little. We would like it to be faster, but it is a slow process. However, there has been a change in focus. Within the ecosystem, there is more awareness about this issue, and many initiatives, public and private, are emerging. Now it is a topic that is on the table and that is a concern, although it is still very difficult to reverse it in terms of numbers.
--- When will these figures start to move? In the last decade, they have not changed.
--- We are still in the sowing stage. Sowing, raising awareness, promoting initiatives. Many are being promoted now, also at the level of investment funds and managers, as well as at the European level.
--- What else is needed?
--- It is an issue that has many facets. There is an educational one, and there is a previous one, which is social and family. And where a cause is detected, corrective measures must be put in place. I believe we are not advancing socially, from the distribution of domestic tasks to the sexualization of women, already from childhood. We continue in a model that pigeonholes us and, for now, we are not getting out of it.
--- And in this context, entrepreneurship is not usually presented as a viable option.
--- Entrepreneurship is extremely hard; it's heroic. They tell us beautiful stories, but nine out of ten startups fail. It's heroic in all cases, and for women, there's an added bonus, because seeking capital is incredibly complicated, largely due to prejudice.
--- And so we remain at 2% of private capital investment.
--- That's why it's important to have public aid, programs, and associations like ours. We help to make this issue visible; we are here to invest and channel our money into women's projects, but we also do a lot to publicize the problem.
--- How do you do it?
--- We participate in events and promote meetings and training. Additionally, from WA4Steam, we hold the presidency of the Spanish association of business angels, Aeban, and from there we strongly emphasize this matter. And now we have just been designated as one of the private entities of the National Forum of Emerging Companies, promoted as a result of the Startups Law, and we will also focus on this issue from there.
--- How is WA4Steam structured?
--- From the 35 women who launched the community, we have grown to 180 members in the network. Almost all of us are Spanish, although there are also Spanish women who now reside abroad, and foreign women who now reside in Spain. We have very varied professional profiles.
--- You were a lawyer.
--- We are executives, professionals, businesswomen from various fields, also some startup founders. What unites us is the mission to invest so that there are more women entrepreneurs. And we bet on science, innovation, and technology because, except in the health sector, these are areas with little development of female entrepreneurship.
--- How does the community work?
--- We do everything voluntarily. We are organized by committees, and we carry out the investment process ourselves, without any external professional, to allocate all the money to the projects.
--- How does a founder reach WA4Steam?
--- One of our groups is dedicated to scouting, to identifying startups that fit us. Another group is dedicated to filtering them, and selecting those that are presented to the investor community. Once a month, we present a new project in which we propose that business angels invest, in a virtual event with the entrepreneur. If it sparks interest among investors, we move on to due diligence: we analyze the project from various angles and, if everything fits, we negotiate the investment and the shareholders' agreement.
--- And then the investment reaches the entrepreneur.
--- Yes, and here we are addressing another issue from WA4Steam. To invest, we group ourselves into an SL, mainly because for startups it works better to have an investor grouped rather than a long list of people with smaller investments. By grouping ourselves, we are left out of the tax exemptions that the Startups Law does propose for individual investors. We are lobbying to change this because, if grouped investment is facilitated, the activity of groups like ours is facilitated. The important thing is to bring more money to startups.
--- How many investors usually participate in each operation?
--- We have an average of about 40 per investment. These are long processes, which can last about five or six months, and some are cut short for various reasons. If everything works and the startup receives the resources, it's the turn of the monitoring committee, which watches over our investments and accompanies the entrepreneurs to help them with whatever they need, whether it's contacts, knowledge, or tools. We can do more than just put in money.
"For there to be more women entrepreneurs, first we need to increase private capital investment in women's startups; if 2% moves, 20% will move"
--- Does WA4Setam want to expand this network of 180 members?
--- We are always open to new members joining. We want all of them to believe in the mission of having more women entrepreneurs. If what they are looking for is to invest money in case of an eventuality, this is not their area. Here you have to come with the spirit that you will lose everything, and that you will lose it elegantly. If you cannot lose it elegantly, this is not for you. You put it in treasury bills or in your sock.
--- The goal is not to obtain an economic return?
--- It's not that we want to lose money, quite the opposite. We want to at least not lose everything, and we want to win, knowing also that winning implies that the startups win. But we know that many times they will fail, for infinite reasons. What drives us is more the mission, the desire to learn, the desire to be up to date with what is happening in innovation. It is not only for the economic return, it is for the mission. We truly want to achieve, even if it is slower than we would like, to increase the number of women investing and undertaking in science, technology, and innovation.
--- How can one prevent a startup from failing?
--- The reasons are so varied and ethereal that everything depends on many factors. On circumstances, on competitors, on geopolitics, on disagreements between partners… In this sense, the team is fundamental. We pay a lot of attention to the team, we look for it to be complementary and to have what it takes to develop the project.
--- How does WA4Steam interrelate with other similar initiatives at a European level?
--- There are several business angels groups similar to ours in Europe, and precisely now we will participate in a European program through which we will be in contact. Initiatives more linked to venture capital have also emerged, seeking to incorporate more female limited partners. To expand the number of entrepreneurs and investors, these initiatives need to be made more widely known.
--- Where will we be in five years?
--- We want to at least be directing more money to women's projects. If we reverse the 2% figure, it will have an impact on the number of women who undertake.
--- Is it necessary to move the 2% for the 20% of startups founded by women to move?
--- I believe so. For there to be more women entrepreneurs, it is first necessary to increase private capital investment in women's startups. If the 2% moves, the 20% will move.