The key to innovation in APAC's travel startup scene? Empowering female founders

Asia’s startup scene is lauded as one of the most vibrant and fast-growing in the world. And rightly so: In Southeast Asia alone, born-and-bred startups such as Grab, GoJek, Tokopedia and Traveloka have enjoyed meteoric success in the past decade.

With business models that are tailor-made to solve unique problems within their respective markets, these startups epitomize the ingenuity and potential in the region - think of how GoJek hit a $10 billion valuation within a decade, by adding structure to Jakarta’s notorious transport ecosystem.

Yet for all the achievements of Asia’s startups, one problem remains: Female leaders are still woefully underrepresented in the region. Only one of the unicorns born out of Southeast Asia over the past decade, for instance, has a female founder - Tan Hooi Ling, co-founder of Grab.

This mirrors a worrying global trend. In 2018, it was estimated that globally there were only seven female entrepreneurs for every 10 male founders.

Gender politics aside, the lack of female leadership in APAC’s startup scene could be significantly hindering the region’s potential for innovation - and its long-term success.

The business case for gender equality

Diversity has been proven time and again to result in better financial outcomes for companies.

For example, startups with at least one female founder tend to raise 21% more in venture capital funding on average in later stage rounds (third and fourth) than companies with all-male teams.

Ultimately, having diverse teams means a wider range of ideas, and different approaches to problem-solving.

And with females making up approximately half of Asia’s population, the lack of females in the startup world could possibly stifle innovation.

Within the travel industry, the need for balanced representation is arguably even more important, given 83% of all travel decisions are made by women – something that drives our talent and acquisitions strategy at Amadeus, too.

Shifting the dial

To make real progress in APAC, change is clearly needed at all levels of the startup ecosystem: the investors, the community and the individuals themselves.

Support from investors and corporations will be fundamental. While we need to encourage more women to start companies, the only way to close the gender fundraising gap is to invest in them.

Ultimately, funding breeds innovation - it’s what gives most startups the ability to compete.

To make real progress in APAC, change is clearly needed at all levels of the startup ecosystem: the investors, the community and the individuals themselves.

Stephanie Strunk

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The numbers suggest that women still aren’t getting enough of it. According to Crunchbase, in 2019 it was estimated that globally, female-only founded startup teams raised $3 dollars for every $100 spent, significantly lower than male and female co-founded companies ($10) and male-only teams ($87).

Increasing female representation within the VC industry itself could be a big part of the solution; I’ve seen firsthand the impact that females on the venture side of things have on the wider community.

On the whole, I think VCs and investors could also do more to actively address the unconscious gender bias which still seems to be rife in the industry, through ongoing training and education. We need to get to a point where selection is made on talent and ideas alone, not on the founder’s gender.

It’s also important for female founders to know they’re not alone. Mentorship is invaluable and should be provided by men, as well as women.

Finally, I think there’s a greater need to get more women into the startup ecosystem in the first place. From my personal experience, we would like to further increase the number of female-founded startups that we support through our Amadeus Ventures initiative, but in some parts of Asia there are not enough candidates in the market.

For the travel technology industry specifically, getting more women into STEM subjects at a young age will be critical to ensuring that there’s a bigger pipeline of female founders in years to come.

I strongly believe in the adage “you can’t be what you can’t see,” so it’s encouraging that female founders like Rachel Lim, cofounder of Love, Bonito; Josephine Chow, co-founder of ShopBack; and Ankiti Bose of Zilingo are blazing a trail in APAC and hopefully starting to inspire the next generation.

Change won’t happen overnight, but encouraging more women to take up STEM subjects, investing in mentorship and increasing access to finance would all be big steps in the right direction.

Increasing female leadership in APAC’s travel startups would benefit our whole industry - not just women - so it should be everyone’s responsibility to bring about real change.