hyderabad the influx of women into startup space has picked up pace over time but gender continues to play a discriminatory role when it comes to attracting investments at least thats the sentiment that many women entrepreneurs from the city especially those working in nontech fields sharealso read women stressed due to gender bias at workplaceadmitting to the challenge of raising funds for their ventures women entrepreneurs rue how the missing male character in their otherwise promising business models makes it difficult for them to convince investors to put the money in their enterprisesalso read 81 of women in stem in india perceive a gender bias in performance evaluation kelly servicesdharani chinalla name changed moved to hyderabad from the national capital two years ago to launch her art and culture firm the circuit the fact that i was a woman and from delhi seemed to have unsettled the investor he asked me if i was even serious about my project and what if i wanted to move back to where i came from some day said chinalla in an email to stoithe first cultural fest curated by her firm incidentally was a massive hit in the town but despite such prowess there are several others like her battling gender crises within the startup industryahmita basu named changed is another such victim in an email correspondence with stoi the cofounder of an online platform that allows students to look for internships across the city wrote there have been instances where i felt discriminated we were once talking to an investor and he asked me what would happen when i decide to have a baby worse he wanted to know if my husband would be ok with the deal it is funny because it was my company and i was negotiating the deal and i totally didnt understand how my husband was a part of itbut basu is hopeful that the scenario may have changed because she pointed out that she had to face the situation three years agoaccording to industry sources it is for reasons like this that a lot of women either stay away from the entrepreneurial world or bring on board male partners to deal with money matters and their claim is not entirely baselessruchika c name changed a hyderabadbased young businesswoman who runs an online medical service confesses to have never faced any discrimination based on gender but she is quick to add an important side note i have two other male cofounders i am always accompanied by them for my meetingswhile investors do not entirely dismiss this unfortunate practice they insist that most put talent over gender there may be investors who might be prejudiced but we personally trust women entrepreneurs because they are more driven and capable of multitasking besides they are more efficient and committed said puru modani an anchor member of mumbai angels hyderabad chapter