Canadian Investment Crowdfunding Platform, FrontFundr, Seeks Gender-balanced Shareholder Base

    CALGARY, AB, March 20, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Canadian investment crowdfunding platform, FrontFundr, seeks gender-balanced shareholder base.

Canada's #1 investment crowdfunding platform, FrontFundr, is seeking female investors to help them grow. The company, which is currently raising capital using its own platform, wants to increase the percentage of female investors from 30% up to 50%.

While venture capital continues to favour male entrepreneurs, a recent study by PWC (1) shows that women are much more successful than men in crowdfunding. One-third of the companies that have raised capital on FrontFundr have been women-led. "It only makes sense to have a gender-balanced shareholder base," says Sean Burke, Co-Founder and COO of FrontFundr. "We want women to invest in early and growth stage companies, and by investing in FrontFundr, they help us to fund more women-led businesses."

The investment crowdfunding model is ideally suited for female investors due to differences in how they invest. "Women take a more holistic view when making investments," says FrontFundr's Chief Growth Officer, Jill Earthy. "We consider many aspects beyond return including impact and how else we can help. What's missing is access to investment opportunities, and that's where FrontFundr can be a bridge."

The government of Canada has committed to increasing the representation of women on boards and management teams (2), but men still make up the majority of investors. Less than 2% of the world's money is invested by women (3) and the average make-up of female investors in private companies around 22% (4). The industry average for women shareholders in investment crowdfunding is estimated to be around the same. In this context, FrontFundr's current ratio of 30% female shareholders is a significant step in the right direction, but also makes their new goal a new landmark in the industry.

(1) https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/diversity-inclusion/assets/women-unbound.pdf
(2) http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/initiatives/wldp/wb-ca/index-en.html
(3) https://news.efinancialcareers.com/us-en/287058/wall-street-nonprofit-girls-who-invest-asset-management-careers
(4) https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/who-are-american-angels-wharton-and-angel-capital-association-study-changes-perceptions-about-the-investors-behind-us-startup-economy-300562302.html

About FrontFundr
FrontFundr is an online investing platform that empowers Canadians to find and make direct investments in the private companies they believe in - and become stakeholders in their future. FrontFundr's online exempt market dealer (EMD) status plus its modern technology lets users across Canada easily invest in innovative growth businesses in under 12 minutes, and starting from $250. FrontFundr is currently running a campaign on its own platform to grow the company and support even more Canadian companies.

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