Although the start-up is considered successful, Ed Zimmerman poses the question through research and surveys if the jewelry start-up would have more success raising capital if they were targeted towards industries in baseball cards or fantasy sports that are predominately male targeted.
There were two key survey's that were cited. One from the Forbes 2012 ranking of the top 100 venture capital investors where only 5 were female. The other survey from the National Venture Capital Association and Dow Jones VentureSource stated that 11% venture capitalists surveyed were female.
FTSB says: A gender bias against women looking for venture capital interest in fantasy sports remains to be seen. What is evident though is that there is a gender imbalance in fantasy sports. According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, women only make up 20% of the fantasy sports population of close to 33.5 million.
There are many though that sees the potential in this market. One of them is the NFL, who now have inclusive marketing campaigns that target women. Case in point, the NFL is promoting Breast Cancer Awareness through its pink campaign both off and on the field. That is why you see all the pink shoes, pink gloves, and pink flags during this weeks NFL games.
Anecdotal evidence suggests more involvement of women in sports. However, fantasy sports marketing to women maybe an effective strategy to finally bring in women to be involved in sports where traditional sports marketing has failed.
