Women Make Small Inroads in Getting Private Equity and Venture Capital Jobs

More women are working in alternative investments, including private equity and venture capital, but their progress has only inched forward.

Women made up 19.7% of alternative asset management employees in 2019, up from 18.8% in 2017, according to “Preqin Impact Report: Women in Alternatives.” Preqin, based in London, provides financial data and information on the alternative investments industry. The research provider based its results on more than 200,000 contacts within the industry, a spokeswoman said.

“Over the last two years we have seen a modest increase in female representation in the alternatives industry,” Joanna Nye, Preqin’s vice president, research enablement, said in a statement. “Modest, but not insignificant—this rise does represent real gains in the number of women employed in the industry.”

Private equity firms and venture capital firms have come under increased scrutiny for their lack of women. Many have sought to boost their representation. Women at Carlyle Group (Ticker: CG), for example, manage more than half of its $224 billion in assets under management, a spokeswoman said. Nearly 44% of Carlyle’s overall staff, including investment professionals, are women. Carlyle employs 97 senior-level female executives, the spokeswoman said.

Of the sectors in alternatives, venture capital in 2019 had the largest proportion of women, with 21.1%, Preqin said. This is a slight gain from 2017, when women made up 20.5% of the venture capital ranks.

Women in private equity accounted for 19.4% of employees, up from 17.9% in 2017. Women in hedge funds showed very little gain. They made up 18.8% of the hedge fund ranks in 2019, compared with 18.6% two years before.

Women made the most inroads in 2019 in junior roles, where they represent 30% of those positions, Preqin said. In 2019, female executives accounted for 30.6% of junior private equity positions. The percentages begin falling when women hit mid-level jobs.

While women’s representation is greatest in the junior ranks, senior positions had the least. Female executives accounted for only 11.9% of senior roles in all of alternatives in 2019, a slight rise from 10.5% in 2017, Preqin said. Women comprised 13.4% of senior positions in venture capital, 11.5% of senior spots in private equity and 10.9% of hedge funds.

“I thought the number of senior women [was] a bit worse,” said Kathleen Utecht, a managing partner of Core Innovation Capital, a San Francisco venture capital firm that invests in early stage fintechs. Core also has offices in New York and Los Angeles.

Utecht said more co-investors are asking for help in finding partners, often preferring women or minorities, she said. Some are also only hiring women, she said.

This doesn’t entirely resolve the issue. “The question is whether after they hire [women and minorities], do they give them the authority and independence to do the deals they want and make more carry?” she said.

Many women in venture are leaving big funds to start their own firms. Utecht pointed to Roseanne Wincek and Renata Quintini, who last year launched Renegade Partners. Quintini was previously a partner at Lux Capital, while Wincek is a former principal at IVP. Trae Vassallo, an ex-general partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, started Defy Partners with Neil Sequiera, a former General Catalyst Partners managing director, in 2017. A spokesperson for Defy Partners couldn’t be reached for comment.

Source: Barron’s

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