Key Sentence:
- Worldwide, the promotion of female founders lags behind that of male founders.
You can be forgiven for feeling Sharon Wosmek pressured by the speed of change. The antidote to despair is 30 minutes with Sharon Vosmek, CEO of Astia, Managing Partner of Astia Fund.
Astia, a global level playing field for startups, recently Sharon Wosmek launched a $100 million venture capital fund to invest in high-growth companies with women in power and capital positions. Vostok has supported for 25 years and describes what it does as “a very personal expression of my values.”
Vostok insists that making money is not against his ideals – his ideals Sharon Wosmek are why he makes money. “As an investor, I make a lot of money,” says Vosmek. “I wanted to start there because investors did. Plus, I’ve brought a lot of innovation to market, and I don’t mean myself – I mean, I’ve endorsed some great entrepreneurs. “As an example, he cites Alydia Health, which Merck recently acquired for $240 million.
Markets like the US, UK, and emerging markets,” he said.
“It’s a device that if you were walking down Sandhill Road and talking to a VC, you might have heard if you were sitting next to me: ‘Hmm, a medical device for childbirth that sounds like a niche market'” says Vosmek. “Aren’t you ignoring half the market if you only cater to women?” “It doesn’t matter that it is the leading cause of maternal death worldwide, and there is no good alternative.”
So why is there no progress? “It has less in common with men wanting to distance women, as well as with different personal social life experiences that provide different views on important things,” Vosmek said. “And at the end of the day, it is an investment. You put your money behind what you think is essential. And it’s often about who you think is essential. I happen to believe that women are influential too. “