Investors are often men, and they usually invest in companies run by men. A vicious circle that the investment fund We Are Jane wants to break. Founded by serial entrepreneur Conny Vandendriessche (centre of the picture) and Gimv veterans Muriel Uytterhaegen (left) and Eline Talboom (right), they invest only in companies led by women, or where the shareholders or management are mostly women. A choice that is anything but philanthropy, because We Are Jane wants to achieve a nice return. Because of their focus they even find deals that others miss, and they distinguish themselves in the busy investment world.
Why the focus on women?
Uytterhaegen: “We want to bring diversity into the boardrooms, and that is why we invest in companies that pay attention to this. Diversity is in fact very much lacking in companies. Research shows that most investors are men and that very little funding goes to female entrepreneurs. As a fund, we want to rectify this.”
Your focus is on the more mature companies. Why not start at the source, the startups?
Uytterhaegen: “We get that question regularly, but in the end, there are already many initiatives around start-ups. We therefore look at companies that already have an average turnover of five million euro and have the potential to grow further. Although we also want to do buyouts. In the start-up world, there is also too little attention for female entrepreneurs. If this fund is a success then we might do something around the earlier stages, but currently the focus is on the later stages.”
What conditions does a company have to meet to get money?
Uytterhaegen: “The team is crucial. A strong team must be ready for the next growth phase, where we coach them of course. We also look for companies with a strong USP. At Pit & Pit, for example, it’s the quality; they don’t invest that much in marketing yet, but they have very good products. We do work on a sector-agnostic basis, and our interest ranges from everything that is human - Conny Vandendriessche comes from HR, after all - to health and high-tech. There must also be an openness to growth. Not every entrepreneur wants to build a large company.”
How do you help companies after the investment?
Uytterhaegen: “The board of directors is a first important aspect. We make sure there is a professional board of directors. We take a seat on it ourselves, and we also look for external expertise. In this way, we help think strategically, and we realise the growth story in the long term. Before we invest, we of course analyse what the weak and strong points of the company are. We try to remedy those weaknesses. We do not do direct management, but we do help them. We also rely on our network of investors, which is very diverse. If we encounter a problem, we always have someone in our network who has experience with it.”
How do you find a balance between return and your social goal of improving gender balance?
Talboom: “There are plenty of studies showing that the more balanced a team is, the better the company performs. We like to believe that, but we will never invest in a company that is led by a woman, but whose figures are not good. There must also be good profitability and positive growth into the future.”
Uytterhaegen: “First of all, we have an obligation to our investors to manage the fund correctly, and to look for a return. That is an important element. But if the fund is a success, we, as managers, want to reinvest part of our personal return in initiatives that showcase women entrepreneurs. That sets us apart from other funds. This is not about the return of investors, but purely about our own return.”
Does your focus on female entrepreneurs have advantages?
Talboom: “We think so. In private equity, companies are often suggested by advisers, to which you must respond before a deadline and which other investors also look at. At the same time, you search proactively for possible candidates, whereby the company enters into discussions almost exclusively with you and your position is therefore better. We can appeal more to that second category, because many women entrepreneurs operate under the radar. They are not in the spotlight, yet they run beautiful companies. There are many such pearls, and we try to track them down.”
Uytterhaegen: “There is also a threshold. We both come from Gimv, and there our colleagues always said that they never met female entrepreneurs. There we saw that women are less concerned with external financing. So we try to create awareness and show that with an investment you get extra expertise and a sounding board. It is about more than just money.”
Talboom: “There are many fine companies with a female CEO or balanced management team that are not yet open to external capital. There is an idée fixe that some entrepreneurs do not want an external investor on board in order to retain control. And that while an external investment is often about having a sounding board, and not being alone.”
How do you experience the increasing competition in the private markets?
Talboom: “That drives up the price.”
Uytterhaegen: “Companies in a process are indeed very competitive, and the middlemen know how to drive the price up. That is where you have to make the difference through the added value you offer. We distinguish ourselves by having Conny Vandendriessche on board. She has gone through all the phases, from start-up to a company that today has a turnover of EUR 2 billion. Her example is very important for entrepreneurial ladies.”
Talboom: “The fund is also simply led by three women. That means that when we come in somewhere, we ask different questions and laugh about different things. It is a small thing, but it creates a different atmosphere that makes some companies choose us.”
What does the future look like?
Uytterhaegen: “We already have two participations, and this year we hope to announce another one and maybe a second one. The emphasis now is on the right investments, but after that comes the follow-up. We are already thinking about a next fund. Raising money was one thing, now we are busy making the right investments. Within a few years, we hope to reap the first rewards of launching the next fund.”
We Are Jane core elements
- We Are Jane began in 2019.
- So far they announced two participations, the online shop Pit & Pit and HR company Medipartner.
- We Are Jane has €54 million in AUM.
- They raised this money from the European Investment Fund, a number of institutional players and a whole host of smaller, individual investors, consisting mainly of female entrepreneurs.
- The duration of the fund is 10 years.
- During that period, they want to acquire 10 participations.
- We Are Jane was founded by Conny Vandendriessche, founder of Accent Jobs, House of HR and Stella P, and Muriel Uytterhaegen and Eline Talboom, both veterans of Gimv.