Shopify executives launch Backbone Angels to support female entrepreneurs

With the development of economy and the progress of society, more and more women are entering the business world and even taking the lead in entrepreneurship. According to Shopify data, 53% of the more than 1.7 million corporate customers using the platform worldwide are women, and this proportion even reaches 61% in the Australian and New Zealand markets.

However, it is much more difficult for female entrepreneurs to raise funds than male entrepreneurs. According to statistics from the business data platform Crunchbase, the venture capital funds obtained by female entrepreneurs in 2020 accounted for only 2.3% of the total global venture capital funds, even lower than 2.9% in 2019.

Male-owned firms are also more likely to use trade credit, capital leases, venture capital or angel funding, while female-owned firms are more likely to use government funding sources. According to the Women’s Entrepreneurship Knowledge Center, firms wholly owned by men are four times more likely to receive venture capital than firms wholly owned by women .

Additionally, companies founded and led by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) women have a harder time raising capital. For example, 11 African American women in the U.S. raised $1 million in venture capital funding in 2018, accounting for just 0.2% of all venture capital raised that year.

In response, Clark, Shopify's head of marketing and partnerships, felt that "it was time to take action," so he and nine other Shopify colleagues launched the Backbone Angels startup fund on March 8, Women's Day this year, to fund female and non-binary founders, with a special focus on the BIPOC group.

( Clark announced the foundation on Twitter)

Backbone Angels is composed of 10 angel investors, all of whom were once managers of Shopify ↓

In fact, Shopify has made more than 50 angel investments over the years, and the reason for establishing the Backbone Angels Foundation is to bring together the collective expertise of women in various fields to support investment in startups.

In terms of the selection of investment entities, the organization plans to invest in early-stage startups in various fields ranging from technology development to direct-to-consumer.

“We believe that there is room for many founders to grow and succeed, but the resources needed to succeed are not distributed equally,” Backbone Angels said. “We will help entrepreneurs close these gaps and provide founders with expertise in product, data, user experience, marketing, talent support, legal, operations, and strategy .”

Shopify

Backbone Angels