<\/p>\n
Key person:<\/b> Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Female?<\/b> No.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sydney-based accelerator Blue Chilli fares comparatively well, gender-wise, when it comes to the businesses it partners with.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Founder Sebastian Eckersley-Maslin says that around 20% of start-ups that pitch to him are headed by women, with the business investing in six female-led ventures so far. By comparison, eight are male-led, with a further two having both a male and female founder.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Despite having a rough 50-50 split in its founder base, Eckersley-Maslin admits more needs to be done: \u201cI\u2019d like to have more female start-ups pitch to us, of course, but we can\u2019t actively influence the people who apply to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI can see where the perception of the tech industry as a boys club comes from, but there are networks such as Head Over Heels challenging this and there certainly isn\u2019t a negative perception to women at Blue Chilli.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sonia Domeyko, founder of social commerce site SwarmIn, says that the situation is improving.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Domeyko, who has partnered with Blue Chilli to launch her business, says that she has noticed more women in the tech arena after taking a career break to have children.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI think things have come on leaps and bounds \u2013 even as a consumer, I come across business models that are being founded by women,\u201d she says. \u201cIT can certainly be a bit of a boys club, but the consumer web is certainly something that is being heavily influenced by the social and purchasing power of women.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Key people:<\/b> Mick Liubinskas and Phil Morle<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Either of them women?<\/b> No.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Although two of Pollenizer\u2019s leading investments \u2013 Posse and 99dresses \u2013 have female founders, the Sydney incubator admits it hopes to partner with more women entrepreneurs in the future.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Co-founder Mick Liubinskas says: \u201cWe\u2019ve had fairly good representation of female founders in the past, probably more than average\u2026 [But] I\u2019d love to see more female engineers and more female founders.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
According to Liubinskas, approximately 20% of the team members in Pollenizer\u2019s portfolio companies are female.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cPollenizer itself, being more of an engineering and product-focused firm, is more male-dominated than female.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are four females in the team at Pollenizer, out of 20. That\u2019s one fifth, which is not too bad but not great. Our general manager of operations is a female.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of the industry, it\u2019s a risk-taking industry. You need a bit of an ego and you need the confidence to go and do it. There might be some things there that are more male-dominated.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Key people:<\/b> Co-founders David Jones and Niki Scevak.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Either of them women?<\/b> No.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Few would argue that Startmate has provided a significant leg-up to a clutch of Australia\u2019s most promising tech businesses.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Each one of the inaugural four start-ups last year managed to attract external funding, with one, Grabble, even being acquired by US retail behemoth Walmart<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n However, it\u2019s noticeable that latest batch of eight start-ups are dominated by those with the Y chromosome<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Indeed, of the 23 founders that have flocked through the doors as Startmate\u2019s class of 2012, a mere three are women.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Startmate\u2019s list of mentors is even more one-sided. Embarrassingly, of the 32 leading industry figures that offer their money and advice to the selected start-ups, just one \u2013 Tjoos co-founder Kim Chen \u2013 is female.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Key people:<\/b> Andrew Birt, Andrew Stone and Richie Khoo.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How many of this trio are women?<\/b> Zero.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n7. AngelCube<\/h2>\n