TLDR:
- Europe’s women-led startups have received low VC financing in the first quarter of 2024.
- Funding for female founders in Europe has not seen significant growth despite the overall surge in venture capital funding.
Europe’s women-led startups have faced a slowdown in venture capital financing in the first quarter of 2024. Financial data from PitchBook shows that these startups received €1.9 billion over 385 deals, the lowest amount since the second quarter of 2020. While venture capital funding overall has seen a surge in recent years, the growth for female founders has not kept pace. In 2023, companies founded solely by women received just 1.5% of the total capital invested in venture-backed startups in Europe.
Despite the challenges, there has been a positive trend in recent years with the creation of women-led funds, incubators for female founders, and new companies. In the US and Europe, female founders secured record-high shares of VC capital raised in 2023, with software being the biggest industry. While deal activity fell in the broader venture market, female founders managed to secure 25.0% fewer deals, showing resilience in a challenging year.
In March 2024, notable deals included a reported $100 million Series D for German ecommerce aggregator Razor Group and a €4 million angel round for Swedish longevity specialist Sand Clinic. The data also indicates that deals for European female-founded companies in 2023 grew more than twice as fast as deals for all-male-founded companies over the past decade.
Overall, despite the challenges faced by women-led startups in Europe, there is a positive trend of growth and resilience, showcasing the potential for further investment and support in the future.
