Tamil Nadu has 576 start-ups with all women founders and around 3,654 start-ups with at least one woman founder, shows data collated by YNOS Venture Engine.
Of this 2,076 start-ups are based out of Chennai, Coimbatore comes second with 488 startups and Madurai has around 119 start-ups. Tiruchi, Salem and Tiruppur also have substantial number of start-ups which are spearheaded by women.
The total funding raised by women-founded start-ups from angels and VCs has been about ₹3,520 crore (124 start-ups). Funding obtained by women-founded start-ups in the form of loans from banks and other sources have been about ₹2,906 crore (308 start-ups). Tamil Nadu also has start-ups run by women which are valued at more than $10 million, shows the analysis carried out by Thillai Rajan A, professor, Department of Management Studies, IIT-Madras and Head, Centre for Research on Start-ups and Risk Financing (CREST).
“If we were to compare Tamil Nadu with other States, Maharashtra has around 11,065 startups which has at least one woman founder and 1,908 startups with all woman founders. While Karnataka has 6,598 startups with one woman founder and 1,206 startups where the entire founding team comprises women. The national capital Delhi has 1,203 startups headed by women and 6,986 startups with one woman as founder,” he said.
Professor Rajan, who is also the co-founder of YNOS Venture Engine, said, “There is a very healthy ecosystem for women-founded start-ups in Tamil Nadu. A very strong network of technical education institutions in the State has played an important role in women-founded start-ups.”
When asked what can be done to bring in more women into the start-up ecosystem in Tamil Nadu, he suggested, “Entrepreneurship scholarships can be created in educational institutions or otherwise provide a nominal income support for women-founding start-ups for a certain duration. In addition, many women do not have formal understanding of start-ups and entrepreneurship. Training programmes on these topics need to be conducted in higher education institutions, specifically in institutions exclusive for women.”
Earlier this month while presenting the State budget for 2023-24, Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan said that the Tamil Nadu government would establish an exclusive ‘Startup Mission’ for women. Though the details of this programme are not known it is learnt that this would help women with mentoring support and access to funding.
Women in the start-up ecosystem whom The Hindu spoke to said that even today investors are reluctant to pump in money into start-ups headed by women. “We are not taken seriously in the ecosystem. Especially if your a woman from a rural pocket, it is even more tough to get access to funding. The bigger investment forums and angel networks do not even acknowledge women-headed start-ups unless and until your product is really big,” said a woman founder of a start-up, who wished anonymity. There were instances where a woman-headed firm did not got funding because investors think that she might quit anytime. This perception has to change, she added.
