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Unfounded Ltd – a startup to help close the financial gender gap

The world’s top 100 investors received an investment opportunity from Unfounded Ltd with the potential to unlock USD 330 billion in annual global revenue. The twist? The company might not be real, but the all the data and figures are – and so is the potential of women in business. Women make up half the world’s population, yet female-founded start-ups only get about 3% of global venture dollar volume. By not giving women entrepreneurs equal access to finance, investors keep missing out on what could become the new Apple Inc. or Amazon.com – every year.

Unfounded Ltd a startup to close the financial gap

Unfounded Ltd is a metaphor for the immense and largely untapped business potential women and female-led businesses represent for the global economy. The financial characteristics of women have been translated into a could-be company – Unfounded Ltd – that was pitched to the top-100 global venture capital firms and investors. There was just one detail missing in the investment opportunity letter. Women. Based on data alone, this should be an investment opportunity that no investor can afford to overlook.

Sadly, statistics show otherwise. The finance gap has been estimated at USD1.7 trillion globally by the World Bank, despite a mountain of evidence highlighting women as a good investment. Women are strong savers, responsible borrowers and calculated risk-takers. Women entrepreneurs achieve higher rates of return, and if allowed to grow, enterprises led by women perform better in the stock market.

Unfounded Ltd is a metaphor for the immense and largely untapped business potential women and female-led businesses represent for the global economy.

Backing women entrepreneurs in 18 countries

Since 2014, H&M Foundation has supported CARE International’s work to ensure equal rights for women, through economic empowerment. These projects have helped more than 167,500 women entrepreneurs in 18 countries start their journey out of poverty and into financial self-sufficiency, that in turn leads to job creation and economic growth where it is needed most.

Unfounded Ltd is part of the H&M Foundation’s Global Program on Equality, raising awareness of the importance to re-define who can be a business leader. Why? Entire economies lose out when a substantial part of the population can’t realize its full potential. Including women in the global economy is crucial to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Unfounded Ltd - a campaign to help close the financial gender gap
Unfounded Ltd - a campaign to help close the financial gender gap

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