Banks still remain crucial for startup funding

The latest edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report has just been published by Babson College and Baruch College which again looks at trends amongst entrepreneurs in 62 economies. There are some interesting findings emerging from the women entrepreneurs questioned in the study, particularly when it comes to funding businesses, especially in the startup phase. For example, women reported using half as much funding to start companies as men, which suggests that women might have few resources to use at launch or that they felt they didn’t need additional resources to start. About 57% of launch costs come from entrepreneurs themselves. Interestingly, while bank loans for entrepreneurs don’t grab the headlines in the way that VC deals or great crowdfunding campaigns do, they remain crucial for many startups. Additional startup funding was most likely to come from banks, at 36%, followed by family or private equity/venture capital (both at 24%), government (22%), employers or colleagues (16%), friends (15%), and crowdfunding (12%). Fascinating reading for any women thinking of starting a business and looking at finance options.