Key Takeaways
- • Startups founded solely by women raised just 1.8% of total VC capital invested in Europe and 2% in the United States in 2023, according to PitchBook dashboards.
- • Women-only founded startups have grown their share of VC deal volume from 2.7% to 5% in Europe and from 3.8% to 5.4% in the US between 2008 and 2024, per PitchBook's All In: Female Founders report.
- • The UK led Europe with almost €4 billion invested across roughly 720 women-founded deals in 2023, followed by France at €1.7bn across 276 deals.
- • Software is the top industry for women-founded companies raising VC in both Europe and the US.
- • In Africa, women-led businesses accounted for only 1.5% of startup funds raised between 2019 and 2023, though deal value for women-led startups rose 7% to more than $200 million in 2023.
Summary
Women-founded startups continue to lag far behind male-founded companies in venture capital funding in Europe and the United States, according to PitchBook data cited by the World Economic Forum. In 2023, startups founded exclusively by women raised 1.8% of total capital invested in venture-backed startups in Europe and 2% in the US, PitchBook's female founders dashboards show. PitchBook noted that "the numbers haven't leapt forward for female founders at the same pace."
Longer-term deal-count data offers more encouraging signs. PitchBook's 2023 European All In: Female Founders in the VC Ecosystem report shows women-only startups grew their share of European VC deals from 2.7% to 5% between 2008 and 2024, while US women-only startups rose from 3.8% to 5.4% over the same period. The number of deals for women-founded teams over the past decade grew more than twice as fast as deal volume for all-male-founded teams, a trend the report's authors describe as the presence of women "growing to fill the wide gap."
By geography, the United Kingdom is Europe's leading market for women-founded companies in both value and volume, with almost €4 billion invested across almost 720 deals in 2023. France ranked second with €1.7bn across 276 female-founded companies. In the US, San Francisco and New York attracted the most VC capital for women-founded startups. Software was the leading sector for women-founded companies raising VC in both regions.
Globally, data points to similar patterns. According to Africanews, businesses led by women accounted for only 1.5% of total funds raised by African startups between 2019 and 2023, though separate reports indicate deal value for women-led African startups rose 7% to more than $200 million in 2023, with women-led health tech seeing a significant funding boost. In Asia Pacific, less than 6% of startups have women founders, according to Google, which announced last year a fund for women-founded AI startups in India, Japan and Korea. The latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor found one in three women entrepreneurs in low-income countries were growing their businesses, versus one in four women globally.
Longer-term deal-count data offers more encouraging signs. PitchBook's 2023 European All In: Female Founders in the VC Ecosystem report shows women-only startups grew their share of European VC deals from 2.7% to 5% between 2008 and 2024, while US women-only startups rose from 3.8% to 5.4% over the same period. The number of deals for women-founded teams over the past decade grew more than twice as fast as deal volume for all-male-founded teams, a trend the report's authors describe as the presence of women "growing to fill the wide gap."
By geography, the United Kingdom is Europe's leading market for women-founded companies in both value and volume, with almost €4 billion invested across almost 720 deals in 2023. France ranked second with €1.7bn across 276 female-founded companies. In the US, San Francisco and New York attracted the most VC capital for women-founded startups. Software was the leading sector for women-founded companies raising VC in both regions.
Globally, data points to similar patterns. According to Africanews, businesses led by women accounted for only 1.5% of total funds raised by African startups between 2019 and 2023, though separate reports indicate deal value for women-led African startups rose 7% to more than $200 million in 2023, with women-led health tech seeing a significant funding boost. In Asia Pacific, less than 6% of startups have women founders, according to Google, which announced last year a fund for women-founded AI startups in India, Japan and Korea. The latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor found one in three women entrepreneurs in low-income countries were growing their businesses, versus one in four women globally.
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