Sodexo Ventures is proud to announce the signature of the SISTA Act to accelerate investment in women entrepreneurs

Sodexo has long been committed to advancing gender equality and fostering an open, inclusive culture where everyone can thrive. 

In line with the company’s initiatives to accelerate the advancement of women and spark progress towards gender equality globally, Sodexo Ventures is proud to have signed the SISTA Act put in place by SISTA, a French non-profit organization committed to reducing the investment gap in women-led startups in France and abroad.

”Sodexo is at the vanguard of diversity and inclusion, reflecting fully within Sodexo Ventures.  We firmly believe in the importance of gender equality and are proud of the fact that women make up  65% of investment committee, 50% of our investment team as well as that our portfolio has two startups founded by women. And we pursue to accelerate the journey towards more diversity and inclusion going forwards, which is why we are proud to sign the SISTA charter and fully support its goals.” – David Newman, SVP Corporate Finance

Together with 20 French Corporate Venture Capital funds, Sodexo Ventures, commits to:

1. Measuring gender equality within its portfolio activities: number of investment portfolios received by women founders & co-founders, number of first meetings set with women entrepreneurs and number of women-led start-ups funded.

2. Implementing more inclusive recruitment practices with an objective of 30% of women investment directors, 50% within investment teams and 30% within the investment committee. Inclusive and non-biased recruitment strategies will be used to ensure these objectives are met.

3. Adopting more inclusive investment practices including the setup of “office hours” dedicated to women founders.

4. Promoting good practices within the ecosystem (incubators, start-up labs, etc.) by calling in a larger number of women experts, supporting women entrepreneurial & tech networks, sponsoring events with at least 30% of women speakers.

Learn more about the SISTA Act engagements