Push for 'blind pitching' to stop investor gender bias

It’s time to make venture capital firms blind to gender, say a cohort of Aussie entrepreneurs.

A new model for anonymising pitch information in the hope of boosting investment in female-led businesses is being championed by a range of business minds.

A team of entrepreneurs including managing director of $300 million travel business Walshe Group, Jacqui Walshe, unveiled the “blind pitch” idea at a Dell Policy Hack event in Sydney on Tuesday.

The mechanism would see Australian venture capital firms commit to wiping the gender information of founders from pitch decks.

Investors would have to to hear pitches without knowing who is behind them, leaving them to then choose the most compelling ideas and request a meeting with the founders.

Under the model, venture capital firms that can show they have used this or another method to ensure at least 20 per cent of their funds go to female founders would be eligible for a tax offset or government grant.

“If we don’t incentivise them with money, they won’t change. They’re not even aware there is a problem,” Ms Walshe told Fairfax Media. Read more

Emma Koehn - Brisbane Times - 24 October 2018