In the first half of 2024, funding for women-founded companies (including mixed-gender teams) has decreased compared to the same period in 2023, with $15.5 billion out of $93 billion raised, which is 17%, in contrast to $24.8 billion out of $87.7 billion, which is 28%, in the first half of 2023, according to PitchBook data.
This year, companies with all-women founding teams have only raised 2.2% of the venture capital allocated. It is revealed that all-women founding teams have not achieved more than 3% in venture capital funding since at least 2014. Despite the increased capital allocation to U.S. startups over the past four years, all-women founding teams have only raised about 2% in venture capital funding.
Notably, companies with all-women teams are facing more challenges in 2024, as their activity is significantly slower than last year, as stated by PitchBook’s lead venture analyst Kyle Stanford. The investors seem to be focusing more on supporting their existing portfolios rather than investing in new companies, resulting in less capital available for new ventures. The current political climate also presents challenges for investment in women and diverse founders.
Female founders are experiencing a decline in deal counts, with VCs backing 372 startups with female founders in the first half of 2024, compared to 536 in the same period of 2023. Most female-founded companies are in the seed and early stage of the VC lifecycle, which can be problematic due to the increased benchmarks for new rounds of funding.
Despite the challenges, there have been notable successes, such as Julie Bornstein’s DayDream raising a $50 million seed round to develop an AI-powered e-commerce search engine, and Romi Gubes’ Sensi.AI securing a $31 million Series B for senior monitoring.
While found teams are seeing a slight increase in funding year-over-year, the data still indicates that startups with all women founders are on track to raise only around 2% of venture capital funding this year. Mixed-gender teams tend to secure more funding due to perceived balanced perspectives and a broader skill set.
Kate Bodrova, founder of edtech company Amazy, advises founders, regardless of gender, to focus on performance and team building to attract funding. She emphasizes the importance of demonstrating value through growth and capable leadership.
