Women-founded startups: Europe
In the last 10 years, the share of venture capital investment raised by women in Europe has doubled. The number of women-founded unicorns has increased 10x. And there are also more than 600 European venture funds with women amongst their partnership.
Explore the trends and dynamics of European startups founded and co-founded by women, how things have changed, and the challenges that remain.
Venture capital
Women in European tech: 2014-2024
Startups founded and co-founded by women accounted for 9.6% of all venture capital raised in Europe in 2023.
A lot can change in a decade. In the last 10 years, the share of VC investment being raised by women has doubled in Europe. However, despite a lot of chat and various initiatives to encourage women in entrepreneurship, this share has now distinctly stalled. The share has largely been stuck around 10% since 2017.
In addition there remains a gap between the share of number of rounds raised by women and the share of investment by amount overall. This means that rounds raised by women-founded startups skew smaller and earlier stage than the average.
See below for a breakdown of VC amounts and rounds by deal size.
Early Stage
Breakout Stage
Late Stage
Take a closer look at Europe's women-founded startup investment here.
Country benchmark: women-founded startups across Europe
The volume and share of investment of going to women-founded startups varies widely from one country to the next. Usual suspects, including more mature ecosystems like the UK, and DEI frontrunners in the Nordics, do not substantially lead when it comes to the role and place of women founders.
Explore how much of VC and rounds raised went to companies with a minimum of one woman (co-)founder across Europe, between 2019-2023.
By industry
There is a difference in industry focus for women (co-)founded startups. Health remains the number 1 industry for both total VC and number of rounds. A closer look at industry amounts can be taken here.
Business focus
See below for the differences in business focus for women founded startups.
Explore all female founded VC rounds for the last 5 years here.