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Juneau is the First Private Equity Fund Focusing on Female Entrepreneurs.
Three female private equity experts have lanched a private equity fund -called Juneau- which will invest in companies led by a female CEO or with more than 30% women in key decision making positions.
Désirée van Boxtel, Hadewych Cels and Cilian Jansen Verplanke, all previously working in prestigious positions in large banks, are behind this initiative, which is new and unprecedented in the Dutch environment; Juneau is the single first Dutch investor focusing on female entrepreneurs.
Their argument for focusing on women is the following: Companies with at least 30% women in key decision making positions have been proven to be better performers and consistently generate higher and steadier returns (return on equity), i.e:
- Lower bankruptcy-rate
- Better calculated risk-taking and improved risk management
- Different culture: employees feel more comfortable and tend to stay longer with the company
The investor will not just invest money, but will also invest in developing the company with their extended network of experts, and aims to be actively involved in the companies’ success.
- It thoroughly analyzes the company and management team, identify gaps and improvement areas and we actively involve 2-4 experts, with relevant background and network (complementary to the company’s management). Examples are: entrepreneurial experience, in-depth market knowledge, supply chain management, marketing, financial.
- The experts are part of the combined networks of Woman Capital and the Juneau partners, which add up to more than 7.000 successful entrepreneurs, board members and top executives.
In order for Juneau to invest in a company, the following criteria should be met:
- All industries (except financial institutions, other funds, real estate, biotech); mainly production, trade and services
- Later stage companies, non-quoted
- EBIT > € 1 mln
- At least 5 years of operating history, proven cash flows
- Good prospect for better than average profitability (25% +), exit potential
- Headquartered in the Netherlands
- Investing € 3-5 mln for:
- Substantial minority in the case of growth capital (>> 5%) with special arrangements for disasters and exit
- Majority in the case of MBO’s/MBI’s
Juneau fits into the trend of international angel groups and funds focusing on female entrepreneurs, such as UK’s Trapezia of Gita Patel, US based Illuminate Ventures of Cindy Padnos, the angel group Golden Seeds and the UK Government initiative Aspire Fund.
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6 Responses to “Juneau is the First Private Equity Fund Focusing on Female Entrepreneurs.”
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Congratulations. This is very promising. Loved the bit “The investor will not just invest money, but will also invest in developing the company with their extended network of experts, and aims to be actively involved in the companies’ success.”
All the best.
Need something like this in the US -
Very inspiring and I do encourage having the same concept all over the world.
The question is; would these female entrepreneurs reach all companies and women of different ethnic backgrounds? I would be happy to help adding biotech to the criteria, as this is essential for a healthy world economy.
The Netherlands falls far behind in terms of the amount of women in executive positions and society has a seriously long way to go if we ever wish to have a balanced playing field. However, something like this is a big step in the right direction! I do hope though that women of ethnic backgrounds and those who head smaller-scale companies are given equal incentive.
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