The VC industry is a key enabler of innovation and a crucial tool for new technology development, and it has an enormous impact on social and economic growth. The deployment of VC investments into a specific industry with low input participation of 50% of the population means it does not represent society correctly.

At Siemens Energy Ventures we are trying to solve the biggest challenge of our generation: The 51 billion tons of CO2 emissions released per year, and we ask how can meet the challenge with only half of the population? The need for transformational solutions to reduce emissions and fight climate change is urgent, and innovation comes from diversity: diversity of perspectives, knowledge, backgrounds, and approaches to challenges.

First, it is important to clarify that diversity is not about meeting a KPI target: a number of females within an investment team or founders in a start-up company. The positions women hold need to be based on their capabilities and hence we need to encourage them to get into the entrepreneurial space, empowering them and harness their capabilities ensure that they have access the right skills and especially the confidence to take such endeavours. To create organic diversity, we need to foster truly inclusive environment, where different ideas and perspectives can come together without fear and embrace difference.

Including women to drive climate technologies is necessary as female entrepreneurs are more likely to innovate to address social needs and higher percentages of women on corporate boards positively correlate with the disclosure of carbon emissions information. Effective action against climate change will require big shifts in how we produce and measure economic value and women are at the core of this fight.

How can we increase the number and quality of female founders and the number of investments in female founders?

Although small compared to the number of white males, there are many women that have made their mark in the world of VC. Those that have succeeded are role models that can empower more females and drive women into entrepreneurship. In Europe, for example, there are more than 300 funds led by women and we need to build strong awareness around those success stories. At Siemens Energy Ventures, we take many actions to address the gender disparity in climate entrepreneurship through our different channels.

First, in our Venture building team we have great representation of female founders with nine female entrepreneurs in our portfolio. While we don’t yet have female-specific programs, we discuss very openly how we support them and address the gender representation across all key roles, Venture Partners, Mentors, Sponsors etc. Our Venture Capital channel always prefers to invest in start-ups with at least one female founder and we do our best to make sure our investment decision-making processes and recruiting decisions is also diverse to include female perspective. Today our investment team is 50% females and 50% male and the full team, participates in female office hour to give mentoring and guidance to female founders on how to build their own climate tech start-up e.g. UK Embassy empowering female founder program and others.

In addition, we developed FORCES. Networking who will be launched in December to provide a platform for female founders by bringing them together with other female leaders, investors, networks and different players of the ecosystem. The aim is to inspire and encourage female founders and demonstrate the power of female founders to the ecosystem. 

Finally, we have first-hand experience of the benefits of a diverse team, our Ventures team president is a strong and determined women who elevates the work experience with kindness, motivation, and support. She always ensures that every team member has a voice and can share their perspective on all topics. Also, 53% of the full SEV team are female, and the team is scattered all around the world between the UAE, UK, Germany, Nigeria, Canada, US, Mexico, and many others. The different backgrounds and nationalities give us a wider perspective by tapping into different cultures and backgrounds. In addition to gathering insights of all the ecosystems helps us bring the best out of those different regions back to Siemens Energy and vice versa.

Investing in female entrepreneurs would generate higher returns for society as a whole. Diversity is about a fundamental change in culture to accept and embrace people’s differences. After all, it is the differences that bring new ideas and innovation. When it comes to climate change, we cannot afford to ignore the talents that women can deliver to teams and need to tap into this valuable resource and encourage them from an early age.

The world is changing, and the gender gap is getting smaller but, as a female involved in VC and climate technology, I know we need to do everything we can to accelerate the speed of change. We are all on this planet together, and involving women is necessary in order to solve the climate tech challenge and move into a more sustainable world.