(Women) business angels in Germany: an exploratory study within an international context

The focus of this study is the role of women in the business angel market and gender-based differences in access to finance. Most of the current research is focused on access to debt finance. This paper extends this research because there has been very little consideration of women's access to venture capital, (esp. to angel financing). 'Missing from research is an understanding about the interaction between the demand and the supply side for equity capital'. (Brush et al. 2004---DIANA Project) The business angel market can typically be described as an informal venture capital market, because business angels are normally not classified within official structures. They act as direct, informal and private investors. Despite that theoretical classification numerous business angel networks were set up the last years around the world such as in Germany. Business angel networks intend e.g. to get in contact with a business angel and they organize the individual business angels within a formal network. Therefore these networks can help to transform the business angel market partially into a small formal market. Within these networks and network meetings there are predominantly male business angels listed. The key issues of this exploratory study are to identify female business angels and spotlight their investment behavior (in comparison to their male counterparts). The study should generate some basic information in this context. This data can on the one hand be used to generate recommended courses of action and on the other hand create awareness of women business angels.