Today is for women Equality Day, also known as Women’s Suffrage Day. Of course, there are nuances so far, as indigenous women are not guaranteed that right in every state until 1962 and black women were not allowed to vote until 1965.
This story of slow progress is still seen in every industry and sector in America. Venture capital is no different. Overall, women received 2.3% of the $341 billion in venture funding secured by US startups last year – that’s about 7.7 billion dollarsand that’s a record amount for companies founded only by women.
Progress on the amount of venture capital raised by all-female companies has been slow and difficult, if stable. Look PitchBook Data, in 2008, all-women founding teams raised $461 million out of nearly $37 billion in investments in U.S. startups that year. By 2012, that number had grown to $750 million (out of more than $41 billion) and then $1.6 billion (out of more than $72 billion) in 2014.
“More women need to be sponsored and bust sizes need to be bigger.” Christie Pitts, general partner, Backstage Capital
The cohort saw a slight drop in 2016, raising $1.4 billion (out of nearly $78 billion), which skyrocketed to a stunning $3.1 billion (in the around $140 billion) in 2018. Since then, the amount of money raised by all women founding teams has dropped slightly back in 2020, finally landing today: $3 billion in venture funds, compared with $144.2 billion invested in US startups in the first two quarters of 2022.
These numbers tell a story as old as time – that change is far from linear.
