VC Money Is Pouring Into E-Commerce — But Are Women Getting A Fair Share?

After four grueling years of fundraising without seeing a dime of venture capital money, Sarah LaFleur was about to give up on hopes of securing the kind of capital that had quickly accelerated other e-commerce startups — like Warby Parker, Bonobos and Dollar Shave Club — into retail disruptors. In meeting after meeting with VC firms, LaFleur said she encountered a subtle kind of sexism that made her doubt her business model — and herself. “Whenever I couldn’t raise, or whenever a VC turned me down, I’d think, well there’s something wrong with me, there’s something wrong with my business model,” the co-founder and CEO of women’s workwear brand MM.LaFleur told Retail Dive in an interview. “I would immediately turn it inward and I don’t think I immediately attributed it to the fact that actually, maybe there is a blind spot in the world of venture capital and investing.” Read more at Retail Dive.