Immigrant founders, according to a 2018 study by the National Foundation for American Policy, are responsible for 55% of U.S. billion-dollar companies, or “unicorns,” as they are known. Uber, SpaceX, WeWork, Palantir Technologies, Stripe, Slack, Moderna Therapeutics, Robinhood, Instacart, Houzz, Credit Karma, Tanium, Zoox and CrowdStrike all count at least one immigrant co-founder. So as Female founders, odds are low, as Immigrants, odds are pretty good, how about Immigrant Female Founders then? Even harder or better odds? We are having a mix of Female Immigrant founders, Female Immigrant investors, and Male investors that had invested in Female Immigrants on this panel and talk about their different perspectives on this topic.

1. Immigrant Female
Founders' odds to be a
Unicorn?

2. • According to a U.S. National Venture Capital Association synopsis published last
year, an estimated 51 percent of domestic private companies valued at $1 billion
or more had one or more immigrant founders. Overall, 31 percent of venture-
backed founders are immigrants.

3. • The prominence of immigrant founders and CEOs isn’t a new trend. A study by
the Center for American Entrepreneurship, a startup advocacy group, found that
43 percent of companies on the Fortune 500 list for 2017 were founded or co-
founded by an immigrant or the child of an immigrant. At the top 35 companies,
the total was 57 percent.

4. • The United States is full of immigrant run businessess. To many Americans, the
story of the “hard working immigrant” are most commonly assumed to be men.
The reality is, 40% of immigrant entrepreneurs in America are women, according
to the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC), and 13% of all female-
owned companies are run by women who were born outside of the U.S.

5. • 2019 is tracking to becoming a historic year for female-founded
unicorns. While still rare, they’re being born at an unprecedented
rate.
• For context, last year there were 12 unicorns born that had at least
one female founder, globally. Less than half way into 2019, 10 female-
founded companies have become unicorns.

7. The 2019 list includes the following 10 companies
• Away: One female founder from the Philippines, the other one 2nd generation American
• Confluent: One female co founder (also the CTO) from India
• Coursera: One female co founder from Israel
• ezCater: One female co founder is 2nd generation American
• Fabfitfun
• Glorssier
• Rent the Runway
• Volocity: female co founder from South Korea
• Airwallex: HK company with one female co founder
• Horizon Robotics: Chinese company with one female co founder

8. • 70% of the Female Founders on that list are immigrants!
• So what traits of Immigrant Female Founders make them great entrepreneurs?
• We have a great panel of Immigrant Female Founders, Immigrant Female VC and
Male VC who had invested in Immigrant Female Founders to share their
perspectives.