Michelle Ijomah, Co-founder, Agnes Health

Less than 3% of all venture capital investments are received by women-led startups (Source: Harvard Business Review)

Being a woman founder has been really interesting for fundraising. One of the things I did notice is that we get asked a lot more questions during the Q&A stage, just trying to figure out what we do, how we operate. So just a lot more questions for us.

Sometimes it can get as deep as understanding, or a potential investor wanting to know what your marital status is. There's just always...people always want a lot more clarity from you when you're a woman,I'm still trying to figure out why.

But I would definitely say keep your head up. It's not the easiest process. Fundraising is, I would say, one of the most difficult bits of running a business. It's a lot. It takes a lot from you, and you just keep...well you have to keep pushing, you have to keep running, and you have to keep...

You will find people who will hear about your business, believe in your business, and want to invest in your business. Your business, not just business, but your business in particular, isn't for everyone. So you're not going to be able to please everyone. 

When you get feedback that's not positive, what I do is I take my time to dissect that feedback and take what is actionable to me and what could possibly just be biased from the potential investor. Take that feedback, sort that out, and then continuously work on myself and keep pushing.

Nidhi Pant, Co-founder, S4S Technologies 

As a woman entrepreneur, I have also faced challenges in the fundraising process where people would not take me seriously and would attribute whatever we have built to my other co-founders or to a male member in my team. At that point of time, what I realized was that I have to cut down all the noise that's coming from outside. I tried to focus on these four things that helped me.

• First was that I would enter every conversation with an investor not with an output-oriented conversation, but more as how can I receive feedback from them?

• Second thing that we do is that we'll be very prepared during the fundraising process. You have all your data points together, you have all the facts rights, you have run your numbers.

• The third thing that I feel is important is that if you don't know anything, it's important for us to say that, acknowledge that that is an important point and something that you haven't thought through. 

• And the fourth thing that actually has helped me personally is to not self-doubt and to be a lot more brave.

Closing thoughts:

Fundraising as a woman founder is tough. Systemic biases exist, but let them fuel your resilience. Your strength and vision are your greatest assets.

Find inspiring leaders, such as Michelle or Nidhi, in your network. Learn from their resilience, preparation, and authenticity. Stay true to your vision - the world needs your leadership.