Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is one of India’s most inspiring entrepreneurs having built a global half billion-dollar biotech business – Biocon – that started life in a small garage. She had found an individual investor to help her bootstrap her business (with traveller cheques), but when it came to gaining funds to grow the company, no banker or fund would back her because she was a woman.

This story made me look at more recent figures for venture capital, and the truth is rather shocking. According to a recent Ernst & Young/VentureOne survey, less than 2.5 per cent of the €3.5bn ($5bn) invested annually by venture funds into Europe goes to start-ups led by a female chief executive.

In Paris, Dunya Bouhacene, chief executive of Women Equity for Growth, a non-profit organisation, has announced three funds each focusing on women-led businesses. Working with Bryan Garnier & Co, a European investment bank that specialises in growth companies – and already in advanced talks with potential investment partners – the funds will be raised through two campaigns each year.

Read more on the blog Women at the Top