Deeligence’s Elena Tsalanidis on overcoming venture capital’s gender problem
Having stepped back from the fundraising process, knowing mixed-gender teams face less investor success, Tsalanidis is resolved to be front and centre next time.
Melbourne startup Deeligence secured $1 million in seed funding earlier this year, helping the company build out its AI-enabled contract review platform for legal due diligence processes. But co-founder and chief operating officer Elena Tsalanidis left most of the investor talks to her co-founder Justin Hansky.
It was a conscious decision by Tsalanidis, who knew that mixed-gender founding teams have a worse chance of success at fundraising compared to male-only teams, and that investment in her startup might be undermined by her gender.
But as Deeligence considers another funding round ahead of an international expansion next year, Tsalanidis is determined to have a more prominent role in the next fundraising process.
She also spoke to Capital Brief about her startup’s goal of eradicating the ‘billable hour’ in law firms, how being nimble can keep them ahead of the competition, and why now is a ‘game-changing point in time’ for legal tech.
