Venture investment in startups led by women has historically fallen behind the overall market. However, a recent report by European venture platform Female Foundry suggests that the situation may be improving. According to the report, venture investment in startups founded by women in Europe decreased by 12% in 2024 compared to the previous year, which is nearly in line with the 11% decrease in overall venture investment.
Interestingly, the report also highlights that women founders in the deep tech sector are raising more funds than their male counterparts. The Female Innovation Index 2025 report reveals that the number of female founders in deep tech is increasing, thanks to the sector’s strong ties to academia, where women are more equally represented. In fact, about 33% of all venture capital raised by female entrepreneurs in Europe is going into deep tech startups, which is 2% more than gender-agnostic startups. Key areas of innovation in this sector include synthetic biology, generative AI, and drug development.
To compile the report, Female Foundry surveyed over 1,200 female founders, female investors, and executives, as well as more than 35 private equity firms, venture associations, and ecosystem players across 20 European countries. It’s worth noting that Female Foundry considered startups with at least one female co-founder, which significantly increased the sample size compared to other reports that only focused on all-women founding teams.
Previous surveys have consistently shown that women founders are still vastly outnumbered by men. In 2024, all-women founding teams only raised 2.2% of the venture capital allocated for that year. Agata Nowicka, the founder of Female Foundry and the author of the report, started the Female Innovation Index to provide more detailed insights into the landscape of female-founded startups. She believes that diverse metrics should be taken into account to accurately represent the contributions of women entrepreneurs.
While the increase in deep tech startups led by women is encouraging, Nowicka emphasizes the need for more support and encouragement for women in academic environments to pursue entrepreneurship. She notes that there is still a stigma attached to entering a startup from academia.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had some positive effects on leveling the playing field for women in tech. Nowicka explains that the wider industry had to become more open and accessible during the pandemic, leading to increased opportunities for women founders. The venture capital industry also transformed during this time, becoming more competitive and accessible to women due to the boom in investment.
Here are some key findings from the report:
- Female-founded businesses in Europe raised €5.76 billion in 2024, a 12% decrease from the previous year.
- The health, fintech, and food sectors received the most venture investment in startups with female founders.
- The seed stage is where female founders see the most success, and on average, round sizes raised by women-founded startups increased by 7% across stages compared to 2023.
- Over 80% of the 50 largest funding rounds raised by female-founded startups in 2024 went to those with scientific backgrounds in areas such as synthetic biology (€282.4 million), generative AI (€221.8 million), and drug development (€169.9 million).
- The U.K., France, and Germany lead in investment in female-founded companies, while Finland and Denmark have the highest proportion of venture capital allocated to such startups.
