Choosing Startup Investors: Does Gender Matter?

We investigate whether startups respond differently to male and female investors during outbound origination, a setting where female investors often report being marginalized by male founders. Using a randomized field experiment, we examine gender differences in startups' responses to investor outreach. Leveraging the rapid increase in outbound origination, our field experiment involves 40,572 startups sending identical unsolicited emails from fictitious male and female investors. Startups are substantially more likely to read emails from male investors, visit their websites, and attempt to make contact. This pattern is stronger for angel investors than for VC investors. Disclosing professional certifications increases a male investor's email's likelihood of being read but reduces the corresponding female investor's chances. A second experiment with 4836 recently incorporated startups reveals similar gender‐based choices. The findings provide large‐scale field evidence suggesting that gender‐based frictions in entrepreneurial finance may extend beyond founders' access to capital to investors' access to deal flow.