2023 A Big Year for Female Founders

This year is poised to become the second most successful year in funding for female founders, thanks largely to advances in the AI sector.

In the first half of 2023, US startups with at least one female founder raised just over $24 billion, as reported by Pitchbook and the National Venture Capital Association. This trend puts 2023 on the trajectory to becoming the second most lucrative year after the record-setting $59.6 billion in 2021. However, the picture isn't as bright for all-female teams. These startups only managed to raise $1.4 billion in the first half of the year, a mere 1.6% of all venture capital. This is a decrease from 2% in 2022 and projects to a total less than $3 billion for the first time since 2017.

Conversely, mixed-gender teams have experienced more success, raising 28.1% of the total venture capital for the first half of the year, a considerable increase from 17.6% in 2022. "There's some positivity in the culture, but we really need to amplify efforts for all-women teams," Julie Castro Abrams, CEO of How Women Lead, commented. Her Bay Area non-profit recently launched "The New Table" campaign, aiming to usher 10,000 women into venture capital investing. She emphasized that more women receiving funding when other women are at the helm of investment decisions. She also noted that while there has been a boom in female investors since 2021, reduced liquidity due to a prolonged freeze on exits has impacted all investors.

AI companies, like Anthropic and OpenAI, co-founded by women have played a role in the increased capital flowing to female founders. Some of these women have since moved on from their startups or transitioned into non-executive roles, as indicated by LinkedIn. The top 10 venture capital deals for startups with at least one female founder for the second quarter, according to PitchBook, included: Anthropic ($450M Series C), PacketFabric ($373M), OpenAI ($300M), Orbital Therapeutics ($270M Series A), Ohmium ($250M Series C), Avenzo Therapeutics ($197M), Noveon ($125M Series B), Celestial AI ($100M Series B), Charm Industrial ($100M Series B), and Replit ($97M Series B).