Tokenomics: Challenges for All-Female Founding teams in accelerator cohorts

Abstract

Prior research attributes gender disparities in venture capital to investor bias and gendered evaluation criteria, yet these studies do not explain why accelerators—designed to reduce such biases—yield mixed results for all-female teams. We identify an overlooked factor: accelerator cohort gender composition. Using data from the Global Accelerator Learning Initiative (GALI), we examine how the proportion of all-female teams within an accelerator affects post-acceleration funding outcomes. Drawing on tokenism theory, we show that higher proportions of all-female teams exacerbate rather than mitigate funding disadvantages through visibility, contrast, and assimilation mechanisms. As the share of all-female teams increases, these teams experience heightened scrutiny, isolation from investor networks, and pressure to conform to stereotypes, further restricting access to equity, philanthropic contributions, and new debt. These findings challenge the assumption that increasing women’s representation improves funding outcomes and highlight the need for accelerator redesign to foster equity.