Girls founders and buyers raised $38.8 billion in funding within the U.S. in 2024, up 27% from the 12 months earlier than, in accordance with PitchBook.
The report was created by PitchBook Information’s Nizar Tarhuni, Paul Condra and Garrett Black. The variety of transactions involving girls founders is down 13.1%, as deal exercise continued to pay attention amongst a smaller inhabitants of firms.
General, feminine founders took house a smaller share of whole U.S. VC funding for the 12 months when it comes to each deal rely and worth. In 2024, feminine founders have been concerned in 25.1% of all offers, in comparison with 26.4% in 2023. And feminine founders have been 19.9% of whole VC deal worth in 2024, in comparison with 20.8% in 2023. It’s clear that male founders dominate tech startups.
The dangerous information? Nicely, the offers slipped in 2024, when funding was bouncing again. And one of many charts beneath reveals that female-only groups accounted for two% of general VC in 2024. That’s, when there’s a man invovled as a founder alongside a lady, the corporate has a reasonably good probability of getting cash. When it has solely feminine founders, it has a horrible probability of getting cash.
Sport deal information is way worse
However it’s far worse within the recreation business when it comes to feminine illustration amongst funded startups. Within the male-dominated panorama of recreation startups, girls have been solely 0.11 % of the sport VC deal worth in 2024, worse when in comparison with 0.18% in 2023.
Feminine founders in recreation firms raised an estimated $215.7 million in offers in 2024, up from $163.2 million in deal worth in 2023. And feminine founders have been 0.26% of whole deal rely for recreation startups in 2024, in comparison with 0.56% in 2023.
PitchBook mentioned sociopolitical tides are shifting with renewed motion towards variety, fairness & inclusion (DEI) and ESG initiatives, which can influence the trajectory of founder demographics within the US. The diploma of influence stays unsure. President Donald Trump’s government order to finish DEI initiatives and associated ongoing authorized battles will take a while to settle and be mirrored in funding figures.
Nevertheless, PitchBook mentioned it’s notable that the entry factors for underrepresented founders might slender
once more within the face of latest challenges, a minimum of till authorized precedent is determined. Feminine founders will undoubtedly proceed to innovate and lift new capital within the 12 months to come back, however a extra even demographic cut up for VC funding stays farther on the horizon, PitchBook mentioned.
On the nice aspect, PItchBook mentioned that good points, although uneven, have been made by feminine founders in 2024. Later stage firms and people working in choose software program and healthcare subsectors noticed substantial funding momentum. The variety of newly minted unicorns rose materially as 13 female-founded firms crossed the coveted $1 billion valuation threshold.
Feminine founders additionally secured a document 24.3% of whole US VC exit rely in a optimistic sign notably for buyers who work with these founders.
The 2024 US All In report is made potential via sponsorships from Wilson Sonsini, Constancy Non-public Shares, and Flourish Ventures.
On the excessive stage within the U.S., bigger checks and a slower decline in deal rely drove extra worth for feminine founders. The 12 months 2024 outpaced 2023 for the third-highest annual stage of capital raised by VC deal exercise for all-female-founded firms.
As of December 31, 2024, a extra muted 7% discount in deal rely, illustrating a disproportionate
decline for female-founded firms. feminine founders. Annual deal rely remained barely larger than its pre pandemic norms and declined at a slower price than in 2023, indicating some confidence returning to investor communities. All-male-founded and all-female-founded firms skilled related developments in 2024, although the all-male class noticed a better 33.2% development in deal worth and The inverse development between deal worth and rely demonstrates the ability of mega-financings for a extra choose inhabitants of firms whereas the broader base of firms continues to face challenges. This development can also be VC deal exercise for all-male-founded firms
Throughout all US offers, pre-seed/seed deal quantity took an outsized hit whereas the extra mature venture- development stage elevated in deal quantity, and this development carried over for female-founded firms as effectively.
Feminine founders’ share of whole U.S. VC deal exercise trended downward in 2024.
Feminine founders took house a smaller share of the nation’s whole VC deal exercise in 2024. Their share of deal worth, which is usually extra risky and pushed by market results, declined by lower than a share level to only beneath 20%. Their share of whole deal rely declined for the third 12 months in a row to its lowest stage since 2018 however remained above the 25% threshold.
Given the variety of variables concerned in an organization closing a deal, feminine founders’ share of whole funding exercise is unlikely to comply with a wonderfully linear development every year, however the long term development strains point out progress towards parity.
Analyzing the previous 10 years of annual deal counts reveals stronger CAGRs of 5.5% for all-female based firms and three.8% for female-founded firms in contrast with 1.1% for all-male-founded firms. The following decade of development will rely on the evolution of right this moment’s fledgling firms, socioeconomic elements, and the event of investor relationships.
Median early-stage VC pre-money valuation ($M) Feminine-founded firm valuations rose throughout all phases in 2024 alongside broader US exercise, however a big hole stays between the 2 classes on the late- and venture-growth phases.
With these mature firms driving extra exercise in VC markets, this hole has an outsized influence on the general disparity in female-founded firm valuations. Nevertheless, the variety of venture-growth offers closed by feminine founders has grown for the previous two years, which may assist shut this hole in time.
Examine sizes additionally rose throughout the board in 2024. The median test dimension for female-founded firms
skilled sooner YoY development than median VC deal worth ($M) as a result of they didn’t increase further
rounds. Whereas test sizes are rising for people who safe new rounds, feminine founders are sustaining
a decrease median VC burn price—the distinction in capital raised and the variety of months between rounds— the broader US class at one-third and almost one-quarter, respectively.
This development displays the extra selective cohort of firms receiving funding over the previous two years, as effectively because the affect of scorching applied sciences similar to AI which can be attracting bigger investments. The development of firms via successive funding rounds, known as the “VC funnel,” illustrates the variety of firms that aren’t counted towards these median figures than the broader US class. At the same time as
VC sentiment improves, bottom-line controls stay a precedence.
In 2024, feminine founders’ share of enterprise funding hit its lowest stage in 5 years, with early-stage financing taking the best hit. Regardless of these headwinds, buyers and founders alike are discovering methods to adapt. Feminine entrepreneurs proceed to construct revolutionary, high-growth enterprises, and buyers are recognizing the market potential of female-led startups. PitchBook mentioned the important thing query is: How will we flip the tide and make sure that feminine founders obtain the capital they should thrive?
Lisa Wu Companion at Norwest Enterprise Companions, mentioned in a dialogue within the report, “As buyers, we now have the ability to reverse this funding development by actively in search of out and investing in feminine led firms and by hiring extra feminine buyers. Research present that feminine buyers are extra doubtless than male buyers to spend money on feminine founders. On the similar time, feminine founders shouldn’t be discouraged by this stat and as a substitute keep targeted on the essential fundamentals of constructing a robust enterprise.”
She added, “A founder’s ‘founder market match’ is essential when beginning an organization, and feminine founders are notably effectively outfitted to create services for the feminine demographic, which holds the best buying energy. Girls handle an estimated $32 trillion of worldwide spending and are anticipated to manage 75% of discretionary spending worldwide within the subsequent 5 years. When feminine founders construct merchandise for feminine clients, they leverage their very own understanding of girls’s wants and experiences to create merchandise particularly tailor-made to handle ache factors and wishes that may be in any other case ignored.”
