In This Issue
Spotlight on: Designing Gender Intelligent Fintechs

The second quarter of 2021 was a record-breaking period for VC investments in fintechs, driven by a group of unicorns and reflecting the incredible acceleration in the sector over the past 18 months. Despite this, the gender gap in the use of fintech is four times larger than the gender gap in accessing a traditional bank account. This speaks volumes about the need to pay attention to gender-intelligent design. How to do this is the focus of part 2 of our research into fintechs and the female economy, being published on Oct. 6, the second day of our Summit 2021.

The research takes us through the typical fintech sales funnel, illustrating the barriers that are reducing conversion rates for women through each stage while highlighting use cases of gender-intelligent solutions that facilitate movement. This practical “how-to” forms the backdrop for a day packed with in-depth discussions by fintech vertical, an Investor Forum and live pitches of Alliance Hack 2021 finalists, culminating in the announcement of Female Economy Fintech of the Year.

Day 1, Oct. 5, focuses on deepening value across segments, including Gen Z and women of wealth, with an emphasis on women entrepreneurs. Because enabling a female-friendly entrepreneurial ecosystem is key to supporting them, we highlight the potential for replicating the UK’s Rose Review, in particular the Investing In Women Code, in other countries. Over 100 banks, angels and VCs have signed on so far and have committed to reporting their volumes of financing to women-owned/led businesses in the UK.

Day 3 focuses on building the JEDI workforce of tomorrow, tackling the changing nature of diversity and supporting women through the restructuring of work that has occurred because of the pandemic. 

We welcome all of our readers to register for this exciting annual event.

Our peer learning events  continue with this week ‘s Fintech Friday   session focusing on the do’s and don’ts of building successful partnerships between incumbents and fintechs. We’re also running a new Working Group  on building out a non-financial services value proposition in the New Normal. 

This month, we also extend a very warm welcome to our two newest fintech members: Dakko , a health and financial wellbeing fintech and Mujer Financiera,  a personal finance management and financial education fintech. Both companies are great examples of designing for the female economy. 

And last, but by no means least, our network news roundup  shares the latest endeavors and accomplishments from our members and stakeholders.

We’d also like to extend a special thanks to Mastercard for hosting Summit 2021. Please join us and spread the word.

Thank you all.          

In community,

Inez