FOUR WAYS TO TURN THE TIDE FOR FEMALE FOUNDERS IN 2025

Last year presented a sobering reality for the startup ecosystem: venture capital (VC) funding for female-founded businesses hit a five-year low. This recent data from Pitchbook is a stark reminder of how far we still have to go in building an equitable funding environment for all demographics. But while these statistics are disappointing, they also reaffirm our mission at Even Capital: to invest in the best female founded companies for a significant financial return while closing the funding gap that disadvantages women.

At a time when progress feels stalled, it’s essential to reflect on the underlying factors and, more importantly, outline the steps we can take to reverse the trend.

What Happened in 2024

This decline is not simply about numbers; it reflects systemic challenges that women in business face every day. Whether it’s limited access to networks, unconscious bias during pitch evaluations, decision-makers not understanding the market, or societal expectations that negatively impact women entrepreneurs, the barriers are real—and persistent.

Our Vision for 2025: Actionable Optimism

Despite these challenges, 2024 also highlighted one crucial fact: women founders are resilient. They continue to launch innovative companies, disrupt industries, and deliver outsized returns despite a lack of equitable funding. The untapped potential is enormous—and that is where our optimism lies.

Here’s how we can collectively turn the tide and make 2025 a breakthrough year for female founders:

1. Commit to Intentional Investment: VC firms must actively prioritize gender equity in deal flow and proactively create inviting environments for female founders to approach them (including by having women in decision making seats). Setting intentional goals for investing in women-led businesses is crucial to closing the gap, and tracking these metrics is the only way to change them. For more information on gender metric transparency, check out our partner Equity Clear.
2. Amplify Women-Centric Networks: The power of mentorship, community, and connection cannot be understated. Expanding access to capital means strengthening networks that connect women founders with investors, advisors, and peers.
3. Reevaluate Opportunity Assessment: It’s time to shift focus from risk aversion to opportunity recognition. Women-led companies have consistently demonstrated higher profitability, and diverse teams deliver better returns on investment—those facts need to guide funding decisions. Additionally, women have influence as primary decision-makers in household spending which presents immense opportunities for startups developing innovative products and services tailored to this massive market. Untapped areas like women’s healthcare, which have long been overlooked, offer significant potential for groundbreaking solutions and returns to investors.
4. Celebrate Success Stories: Representation matters. By amplifying the stories of women entrepreneurs who have defied the odds, we inspire others to follow suit and signal to investors that the opportunity is immense.

A Call to Action

To our fellow investors: the time to act is now. Women-led companies are not a niche—they are the 51% of the market and the future. In an industry built on spotting opportunity, we must challenge ourselves to rethink how we allocate capital and ensure we are not leaving innovation on the table.

2025 can and should be the year we turn the page. Let’s move beyond talking about the funding gap and take decisive action to close it. Together, we can build an ecosystem where every founder—regardless of gender—has an equal shot at success.

 

Pitchbook article: Female Founders just took in their smallest share of VC deals in five years?