Founding women and investors raised $ 38.8 billion in funding in the United States in 2024, up 27% compared to the previous year, according to Pitchbook.
The report was created by Nizar Tarhuni of Pitchbook Data, Paul Condra and Garrett Black. The number of transactions involving the founders is down 13.1%, because the activity of the agreement continued to focus among a smaller business population.
Overall, the founding women have won a smaller share of the total American VC funding for the year in terms of number and value of agreement. In 2024, the founding women were involved in 25.1% of all transactions, compared to 26.4% in 2023. And the founders were 19.9% ​​of the total value of the VC agreement in 2024, against 20.8% in 2023. It is clear that the male founders dominate technological startups.
The bad news? Well, the offers slipped in 2024, when funding bounced. And one of the graphics below shows that the teams reserved for women represented 2% of the global VC in 2024. That is to say that there is an innovated man as a founder alongside a woman, the company has a fairly good chance of obtaining money. When he has only founding women, he has a terrible chance of getting money.
The data on the game is much worse
But it is much worse in the game industry in terms of female representation among the financed startups. In the landscape dominated by the men of game startups, women represented only 0.11% of the value of the VC agreement of the game in 2024, worse against 0.18% in 2023.
The founding women of game companies raised approximately $ 215.7 million in 2024, against 163.2 million dollars in value in 2023. And the founders were 0.26% of the total number of transactions for game startups in 2024, against 0.56% in 2023.
Pitchbook said that socio-political tides move with a renewed action against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and ESG initiatives, which will have an impact on the trajectory of founding demographic data in the United States. The degree of impact remains uncertain. The executive decree of President Donald Trump to end the Dei initiatives and the ongoing legal battles will take some time to settle down and reflect in the financing figures.
However, Pitchbook said that it is remarkable that the entry points for the under-represented founders can be narrow
Once again faced with new challenges, at least until the legal previous is decided. Founding women will undoubtedly continue to innovate and raise new capital in the coming year, but a more uniform demographic split for VC investment remains further on the horizon, said Pitchbook.
On the right side, Pitchbook said that the gains, although unequal, were manufactured by founders in 2024. Subsequent stage companies and those operating in certain software and health care sub-sectors have experienced a dynamic of substantial funding. The number of newly struck unicorns has increased materially while 13 companies based on women have crossed the coveted valuation threshold of $ 1 billion.
Founding women also obtained a record of 24.3% of the total number of American VC outings in a positive signal, in particular for investors who work with these founders.
The 2024 US all report in the report is made possible thanks to sponsorships of Wilson Sonini, private actions of Fidelity and Florish Ventures.
In the United States, the United States, larger checks and a slower drop in the number of transactions have led more value for founding women. The year 2024 exceeded 2023 for the third highest annual level of capital raised by the activity of the VC agreement for women based on women.
As of December 31, 2024, a dull reduction of 7% of the number of transactions, illustrating a disproportionate
Decline for women based on women. Founders. The number of annual transactions has remained slightly higher than its pre-Pandemic standards and decreased at a slower rate than in 2023, which indicates a certain confidence in the return to investor communities. Completely male and fully-founded-based companies have experienced similar trends in 2024, although the entirely male category experienced higher growth of 33.2% of the value of the agreement and the opposite trend between the value of the agreement and the statement demonstrates the power of the mega-financers for a more selected population of companies while the wider basis of companies continues to deal with challenges. This trend is also a VC transfer activity for fully male -based companies
In all American transactions, the volume of pre-series / seed transactions took a disproportionate blow while the more mature growth stage has increased in the volume of transactions, and this trend has also taken up for companies founded by women.
The share of the founders of the total activity of the American VC operation tended to drop in 2024.
Founding women have won a smaller share of the country’s total VC transactions in 2024. Their share of the value of the agreement, which is generally more volatile and motivated by the effects of the market, has decreased by less than a percentage to just under 20%. Their share of the total number of transactions has decreased for the third consecutive year at its lowest level since 2018, but has remained above the 25%threshold.
Given the number of variables involved in a company that concludes an agreement, the share of the founders of the total financing activity of women will probably not follow a perfectly linear progression each year, but the longer -term trend lines indicate progress towards parity.
Examination of the last 10 years of annual transactions of transactions reveals more solid TCACs of 5.5% for entirely female founded companies and 3.8% for women -based companies, compared to 1.1% for businesses to all letters. The next decade of growth will depend on the evolution of today’s emerging businesses, socio-economic factors and the development of investors.
The median evaluations of the pre-money assessment in early VC ($ m) increased from all stages in 2024 in parallel with a wider American activity, but a large gap remains between the two categories at late stages and growth growth.
These mature companies stimulate more activity on the venture capital markets, this gap has a disproportionate impact on the overall disparity in the evaluations of companies based on women. However, the number of business growth transactions concluded by founders has increased in the past two years, which could help to fill this gap over time.
Check sizes also increased at all levels in 2024. The median size of checks for women based on women
An experienced annual sliding growth that the value of the VC median ($ m) agreement because they have not increased
Rounds. While check sizes increase for those that secure new cycles, the founders maintain
A lower median VC burning rate – the increase in increased capital and the number of months between rounds – the wider American category to a third and almost a quarter, respectively.
This growth reflects the most selective cohort of companies receiving funding in the past two years, as well as the influence of hot technologies such as AI that attract greater investments. The increase in companies through successive financing cycles, called “VC funnel”, illustrates the number of companies that are not counted for these median figures than the wider American category. Even if
The feeling of VC improves, net controls remain a priority.
In 2024, the share of the founding women of the company’s financing reached its lowest level in five years, financing in the start -up phase taking the greatest success. Despite these opposite winds, investors and founders find ways to adapt. Women entrepreneurs continue to build innovative and high -growth companies, and investors recognize the market potential of startups led by women. Pitchbook said the key question was: how to turn the trend and ensure that founding women receive the capital they need to prosper?
Lisa Wu’s partner at Norwest Venture Partners, said in a discussion in the report: “As investors, we have the power to reverse this financing trend by actively looking for and investing in companies led by women and hiring more women’s investors. Studies show that women’s investors are more likely than male investors to invest in founders. At the same time, founding women should not be discouraged by this statistic and remain concentrated on the basic fundamental principles of the creation of a solid company. »»
She added: “The” founders Market Fit “of a founder is crucial during the start of a company, and the founders are particularly well equipped to create products and services for female demography, which holds the highest purchasing power. Women manage approximately 32 billions of dollars in world spending and are expected to control 75% of discretionary spending worldwide over the next five years. When founding women build products for female customers, they use their own understanding of women’s needs and experiences to create products specifically adapted to meet pain points and desires that may be neglected otherwise. »»
