Gender Lens Investing Landscape

In recent years, gender lens investing (GLI) has gained traction globally as leading mainstream investors started to incorporate gender analysis into investment decision making, and as funders began to widely consider women’s entrepreneurship as a key to economic stability and sustainable development. Though still a nascent concept in Asia, GLI has been showing rapid growth in the past few years in the region. The report, titled “Gender Lens Investing Landscape: East and Southeast Asia”, aims to provide a landscape of gender lens investment vehicles in both public and private markets, and is intended to be used as a baseline to track the size and state of the market over time.

The report is co-authored by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Catalyst at Large, and SAGANA, and is published for investors interested in GLI and asset managers who wish to create gender lens investment vehicles in East and Southeast Asia. The report includes 33 gender lens investment vehicles, diving into Private Markets, covering venture capital, private equity and private debt funds, and Public Markets, covering public equity and fixed income funds. The basis of the private market data is based on the Wharton Social Impact Initiative and Catalyst at Large Project Sage 3.0, and the basis of the public market data is based on the Veris Wealth Partners Public Market Scan. In addition, the authors conducted over 20 interviews with fund managers to better understand more in-depth the motivation, structure, language, and incentives motivating GLI investment vehicles.

Chinese and Japanese versions are now available.