PassionIT News

scale-up is a fact that resonates with Sampler founder and CEO Marie Chevrier Schwartz.

Chevrier Schwartz created her direct-to-consumer product sampling business in 2013, raising multiple rounds of seed capital for a number of years until she secured $3 million CAD in Series A funding in 2019.

“In Canada, I have unfortunately had pretty negative experiences fundraising, and … certainly gender-stereotyped.”

Since then, Chevrier Schwartz has grown Sampler into a company that works with customers like L’Oréal, Nestlé, Unilever, and Pepsi. The startup claims more than 400 customers in 24 countries, with a reach of over 59 million consumers.

According to the CEO, Chevrier Schwartz has also encountered numerous instances where she was underestimated or treated differently because of her gender.

“In Canada, I have unfortunately had pretty negative experiences fundraising, and … certainly gender-stereotyped.”

Chevrier Schwartz’s journey has not been an easy one, and the CEO is not alone. A recent study from the Conference Board of Canada found a number of differences between women and men entrepreneurs in the Canadian tech sector.

Most notably, women have a harder time raising capital. The study found that, compared to men, women reported it took longer to raise Series A financing, requiring more pitches to do so.

Interviewing 15 women and 15 men startup entrepreneurs, the Conference Board decided to undertake the study due to a lack of research that is focused on gender in Canadian tech.

“We saw some very interesting research emerging out of the U.S. that showed that in the world of scaling technology companies, companies led by women were outperforming companies led by men,” said Susan Black, CEO, of the Conference Board. “These studies were all quantitative; they didn’t shed light on why this might be the case.”

The Conference Board hopes that understanding the differences will lead to organizations devising better policies “so that access to capital is not skewed by misperceptions or bias.”

RELATED: New report on Canadian venture, private equity landscape shows firms failing when it comes to inclusion side of D&I

Chevrier Schwartz recalled to BetaKit one such experience in an investor meeting, shortly after she had become engaged, where a male investor saw her ring and asked her about it.