The ecosystem has certainly evolved since those early days, but progress is still slow. 

Hence See’s speculative mood: “Are we truly changing the game or just simply playing the game?” she asks. 

“We asked ourselves what we would like to do for the next ten years and that’s when we were looking back and realised that we did change the game a bit. You know, the fact that we don’t have to convince [investors of the impact women can make], I like to think that we played a huge role in changing people’s minds.” 

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To that end, the team is gathering data accumulated over the past decade to understand the impact that She Loves Tech has made. “We want to use the data to change mindsets and inspire new ways of doing things,” she says.  

One of their realisations is that women-led businesses tend to be more resilient. “When we did our initial cleanup of the data over the past ten years, one thing we realised is that a lot of the startups [in the competition] have since progressed and have gotten a lot more funding. But the most interesting thing was resilience. Covid happened to everyone, but despite that, a lot of women-led companies are still alive.” 

It’s undeniable that women face more disadvantages when starting out, whether it’s suffering from brilliance bias or being excluded from typically male networks of funding and investing. But, See adds, “Once the momentum is there, they are more revenue-generating and more stable. They become profitable in the short term. There are many stats that most startups die, but most of our startups are still alive, after ten years!” 

There’s no denying that when markets are tough the first funds to get cut off are those who were last in. But See sees it as an opportunity to attract non-traditional investors: “The reality is that we’re very focused on venture capital only. But I think the good news is that there are more funds. When I first started She Loves Tech, I had to convince a lot of people to invest in this movement, including my own company. But now, we work with all sorts of funds, and they come to us for deal flows. That’s a change and we don’t need to convince that many people why they need to invest in women.” 

Read more: How this Hong Kong entrepreneur is matchmaking impact startups with the right investors

See and her co-founders clearly have an advantage when running their business: as business owners themselves, they have a front-row seat to all the challenges and problems that startups face, as well as the opportunities they can tap into. They’ve also started a fund to support women-led businesses. 

Putting on her multi-hyphenate hat of an entrepreneur, investor and advisor, she muses that it’s a good time for businesses and investors to reconsider their priorities. “In this climate, where investors are being more prudent, things are changing,” she says. “We don’t have much money floating around, so a lot of investors are prioritising revenue; how you’re making money and not just how you’re spending it. This is going to be a clear advantage for women.” 

Founders also tend to be focused on their exit. But what if that changed? “Sometimes I wonder what’s the point of building a business, it feels like a factory. Not everything has to be like this. It might be better to build sustainable, resilient businesses,” she says. 

Read more: What it’s like to fundraise for a high-growth startup when pregnant, according to ThoughtFull’s Joan Low

See grew up in a family of powerful women—her mother was the oldest of eight siblings, of which five were women. “​​They were role models. They were leading the family business and really strong. So I never thought that women were incapable of doing anything.” 

She studied at a liberal arts university where she discovered that she loved the thrill of diving into hitherto unknown topics. Her career meandered from public relations and communications for Mac Cosmetics to moving to China to learn the language, which is where she met her co-founder, Tan. While simultaneously working for a fund as well as fundraising for an arts charity, she and Tan started running the China branch of Lean In, the non-profit organisation founded by former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg. 

This gave them first-hand access to the challenges women faced when raising funds and inspired them to run a fundraising competition for their community. It was such a resounding success that they eventually made it official by setting up She Loves Tech, and quit their jobs in 2017 to focus on it full-time. 

The competition took off organically and they were able to grow to different markets thanks to eager volunteers who would run the event in their hometowns. This is how they met Robers, their third co-founder. 

See remained in China to grow the company, while Robers and Tan ran the business from Singapore. In 2021, she took the plunge to move to Singapore too, where the company is headquartered. 

Read more: Women entrepreneurs in Singapore on how they keep their mental well-being in check

As See and her team gear up for the next She Loves Tech conference in Singapore happening next month, she has her eyes set on a greater goal: Fundraising US$1 billion for the competition’s winning founders by 2030.

“I am proud to say that in 2023, we have already closed more than US$600 million for our founders. And we’re only counting the winners of the programme; we didn’t count everyone else who has taken part.”  

While they’re on track to meet these numbers, they have their sights on a more ambitious goal: to further amplify their impact and close the funding gap. To that end, they are implementing programmes and initiatives that are still under embargo. 

“The fact that funding for female founders remains at 2 per cent shows that something is fundamentally wrong. We need to be making game-changing moves, not just playing by the existing rules,” she says.

“From a young age, girls are often excluded from spaces that could lead to entrepreneurial success. Building those networks and raising capital is undeniably harder for women. It’s a ‘people thing’, and those circles are often male-dominated. Even when women break into those spaces, they face additional hurdles and responsibilities. We need to address these root causes to close the funding gap.”

Here, we ask See some quick-fire questions to learn more about the funding landscape for female founders.

What is most challenging about running She Loves Tech?

Rhea See (RS): The biggest challenge is the persistent undervaluing of women. Securing funding for initiatives focused on female entrepreneurs is still incredibly difficult, which makes it hard to scale our programmes and support as many women as we’d like.

What are the challenges the women in your competition face?

RS: Fundraising is the number one challenge. They lack access to the right networks, struggle to find lead investors, and face bias in the investment process. Many are asked inappropriate questions about family planning or simply aren’t taken seriously.

How can we change mindsets?

RS: It starts with education from a very young age. We need to challenge gender stereotypes and ensure girls have equal opportunities to explore their interests and develop entrepreneurial skills. We also need to address the social and economic factors that limit girls’ access to resources and opportunities.

Why is it difficult for women to fundraise?

RS: The investment world is still male-dominated. Women often lack access to those crucial networks and face unconscious bias from investors. They may have to work harder to prove themselves and overcome assumptions based on gender.

Founder Stories is Tatler’s content series dedicated to discovering the untold stories and challenges of today’s entrepreneurs on their climb to the top.

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