As rising tech executives who help entrepreneurs build online storefronts, Atlee Clark and Konval Matin know that taking a business from a concept to a viable entity can be a lonely and frustrating journey – especially for women.
The numbers tell a stark tale: women founders are much less likely to receive capital than men – according to business data platform Crunchbase, women-led businesses brought in just 2.3 per cent of all global VC funding in 2020, down from 2.9 per cent in 2019 – and when they do, the cheques are typically smaller.
“We see these statistics, and it is a big motivator for us,” says Clark, a director of marketing and partnerships at Ottawa-based e-commerce powerhouse Shopify.
Women leaders at Shopify launch new angel group to invest in women and non-binary founders
A group of individuals who have helped lead and build Shopify have launched a new angel group in Canada, focused on investing in women and non-binary founders with a specific focus on Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC)-led companies.
Called Backbone Angels, the group consists of 10 angel investors who have held various management-level roles at Shopify. The launch of the angel group was announced Monday, International Women’s Day.
The group includes Shopify chief talent office Brittany Forsyth; Erin Zipes, vice president of assistant general counsel; Anna Lambert director of product acceleration; Konval Matin, director of merchant storytelling; Atlee Clark, the director of operations for Shop; Solmaz Shahalizadeh, VP of commerce intelligence; and Arati Sharma, founder of Ghlee and former director of product marketing at Shopify; among others.