According to the current “State of European Tech” report by Atomico, only 13.5 % of general partner positions in Venture Capital are held by women. If you compare this with the figures from the previous year (12.2 %), you have to admit, there’s little  progress in the industry. It should come as no surprise that the ongoing inequality also affects which start-ups are funded later on. In Austria, 90 % of the financed volume goes to founding teams consisting of men only, although numerous studies state that teams with female founders are more successful.

London-based Deepali Nangia has been passionately fighting this for some time. Nangia is the co-founder of Alma Angels, a female investor community dedicated to the mission of supporting female founders since 2019.

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I feel that my life serves a greater purpose: to help women achieve  more visibility and funding. That’s why I don’t see myself as a ‘deal hunter.’ My focus is on  building relationships and collaborating to achieve this goal.

She has been a member of the Speedinvest team since 2021 and supports the agenda to make more deals with women and give Venture Capital increased female representation. She joined the ‘white Austrian blokes’, where eleven out of twelve partners were male. Today, eleven out of fifteen are male, and she now works alongside them.

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It starts with KPIs and measuring a baseline of where your starting point on diversity is.

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When describing the transformation process, she is actively helping to drive forward. “Numbers don’t lie and you can’t run away from them”.

It is also about making conscious choices when selecting staff, so for Nangia it is less about “why a woman?” and more about finding the woman who best fits the job profile. Ultimately, it is about creating an inclusive space. You must create structures, rules, processes, and rethink. “Any team activity should be inclusive. Don’t go golfing with the team just because you’re good at golf. Think about what else could be fun and inclusive for women on the team.”

Most recently, Speedinvest launched a programme for smaller and pre-seed VCs under Nangia’s leadership. Three million euros will be distributed among ten to twelve early-stage managers, with 50 % of the sum going to women or diverse teams.

One of the programme’s first investments went to the Austrian Female Founders team around LisaMarie Fassl and Nina Wöss. Their Fund F is the first aimed entirely at female founders.

Nangia emphasises that the path to more diversity in venture capital remains a difficult one. There are still many doubters, moreover, much of the work is barely visible from the outside, but without the work there can be no fundamental change. “Although I don’t really have much time for it,  I look at a lot of cold inbound. Just last weekend, I spent 15 hours responding to emails and giving feedback and recommendations. I spend my mornings on my way to the office taking phone calls and mentoring. You have to make time for things that are important for you but also important for the ecosystem.”

For Nangia, kindness is central to her way of life, and you can feel that when you talk to her. “I learned kindness from my parents. They were the kindest people ever. I feel like it’s helpful in all relationships to think more about giving than taking. It changes your mentality. It becomes almost a part of you.” She admits that one runs the risk of others taking advantage of this kindness, “but that’s just who I am. It’s my personality. I believe a kind action has a ripple effect just like a pebble tossed into the water – it always leads to another kind action.”

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