Women hold 22 — or roughly 6 percent — of the 354 board seats on so-called U.S. unicorn firms, private tech companies valued over $1 billion, according to Fortune.
Thirty-three, or 60 percent, of the 55 unicorn firms have all-male boards, Fortune found. That compares to 5 percent of Fortune 500 firms. None of the 55 have more than one female board member.
The list of companies with all-male boards includes consumer tech stars such as Snapchat, Uber, Airbnb, Instacart, Pinterest and Tinder.
Many of these company boards tilt heavily male because their founders and investors are men, company leaders and investors said. Ninety-five percent of all venture capitalists are men.
Adam Goldenberg, JustFab s co-CEO, which has no female board members, told Fortune:
It just so happens that the people who wanted to invest in JustFab were men.
Jeff Bussgang, general partner at Flybridge Capital Partners, said he has received pushback from other board members as he insists that half the candidates for board seats be women:
Over half the brains on this planet reside in women and by not having them represented on your team, you re missing out on over half the planet s talent. Plus, diverse opinions around the table enhance the quality of any discussion and lead to better decisions.
Above: Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)