Only 2.1% of capital invested by funds

Start-ups founded or co-founded by women continue to struggle to find funding. A new indication in this direction comes from the United States, with last year's figure being truly significant: in 2023, companies founded exclusively by women raised only 2.1% of the total capital invested in start-ups backed by venture capital in the United States. One number certainly cannot exhaust the analysis of an industry trend, which has however seen the emergence of numerous women-led funds, incubators for female founders and other new companies in the US venture capital industry.

A PitchBook analysis shows that during 2023 start-ups (co)founded by women raised a total of $44.5 billion in 3,495 deals. Figures that in this 2024 are expected to be lower as the first quarter saw 684 deals worth 8.3 billion and the second quarter 803 deals worth 7.1 billion. These figures are a far cry from the peak of the first quarter of last year, which saw 1,006 investments totalling $17.3 billion.

The record year, however, remains 2021, when the entire industry experienced a strong upswing in operations in the post-Covid era. In those twelve months, start-ups founded or co-founded by women in the US recorded 5,044 investments totalling USD 62 billion.

What gives us pause for thought is the cross-section analysing investments in innovative companies founded exclusively by women and companies co-founded by women and men. Over the past 16 years, the former have received only 12.9% of the amount allocated to start-ups with at least one female founder, i.e. 40.2 billion in 9,195 deals out of a total of 311.6 billion for 30,025 deals. When women present themselves alone at a pitch, therefore, they have very little chance of succeeding in bringing home capital, but if they are accompanied by a co-founder their chances increase enormously.

If we then look at the breakdown by sectors, contrary to stereotypes that have IT as a predominantly male preserve, female start-ups see the software sector in first place with €94.4 billion raised in 12,379 deals since 2008, followed by home care services companies (€29 billion for 3,630 deals) and B2B services (€25.7 billion for 3,460 deals). Finally, geographically, the cities offering the most opportunities remain New York and San Francisco, just as with all venture capital investments.