![]() ![]() ![]() Instead, the contest is motivated by straight-up business. ![]() For Johnson, the contest is about business, not just doing the right thingĪlthough the contest is personal to Johnson, it's not simply a feel-good public-relations stunt, she said. The contest is open to enterprise startups - i.e., companies making tech for business use, not for consumers - with at least one female founder. Microsoft is sponsoring the contest through its M12 venture fund, a brainchild of Johnson's. So from a personal goal, I wanted to make sure I was putting my money where my mouth is." "I feel I know what she's going through and what it took for her to walk into this room. "When I see a female founder walk in to pitch, I get a little smile on my face," she added. "All those years when I was coming up through the industry, typically being the only woman in a room." "I know what it's like to be a woman in a large male-dominated field," Johnson said. The two winners of the contest, which Silicon Valley Bank and EQT Ventures are cosponsoring, will be awarded $2 million apiece. So Johnson, who oversees Microsoft's venture investments as its executive vice president of business development, has helped cook up a contest to find and fund female founders. Peggy Johnson thinks the time has come to change the tech industry's well-documented gender-disparity problems, and she's ready to do her part. ![]() But, she said, it's also just good business, given the research that shows that startups with at least one female founder generally outperform those with male-only founders.M12 is the brainchild of Peggy Johnson who tells Business Insider that the contest is part of her effort to "put her money where her mouth is" when it comes to encouraging more women in tech.Microsoft's independent seed venture fund M12, Silicon Valley Bank, and EQT Ventures have launched a contest to fund enterprise startups with at least one female founder.Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. ![]()
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