Women-led startups suffer in economic downturn
The economic clouds have had a negative effect on the market for women-led startups and the disbalance between capital available for male and women founders is once again emphasized. European venture dealmaking for female-founded startups dropped back to pre-2021 numbers in the first six months of 2022 as the economic downturn slows investment activity, data from Seattle-based PitchBook shows.
”Startups with only male founders increased their share of total capital raised from 2021’s 85.2% to 86.7% in H1 2022. They’ve also surpassed last year’s halfway mark for total capital raised. By contrast, startups with only female founders are well behind the pace of 2021, with their H1 2022 total raised equivalent to 37% of last year’s capital.”
During the first half of the year, European and Israeli startups with one or more female founders raised $6.6 billion across 765 deals. This represents a year-over-year decline of 2.9% and 23.9%, respectively.
For startups founded only by women, deal value was essentially flat YoY—but the number of rounds fell by 10%.
”The share for female founders of the overall amount raised by European startups dipped slightly in H1 compared to 2021’s annual figures, with female-only founded companies accounting for 0.8% of the total capital raised compared with 1.1% last year.”
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