Sociotechnical Scale| Scaling Identity: Venture Capital and Standpoint in Innovation Industries

Abstract

Venture Capital (VC) is often defined by its ability to scale small, emergent companies into large companies with billion-dollar valuations, also known as “unicorns.” Unlike traditional investment types that rely on historical data, VC focuses on emerging technologies with little precedent for success. Investors must guess which technologies have the largest market potential and fastest adoption rates. Using the femtech market as a case study, this research argues that the scalar logic of VC is shaped by the gendered standpoints of the investor class. Based on fieldwork conducted in 2023, we reveal that even when a substantial potential market exists, White, cis-male investors often fail to recognize the viability of startups that address issues outside their own gendered experiences. We examine how investors need to intuitively recognize and understand a social problem to view a technology addressing it as “scalable,” and how this economic framing embeds the interests of dominant groups into the technologies that come into being.