The highs and lows of Q3 venture capital data on female startup founders • TechCrunch

Perhaps not surprisingly, new PitchBook data found that US companies with all female founders are raising less capital this year than last amid the current economic woes.

Last year, women raised about 2.4% of all venture capital allocated, a figure that rose to 1.9% by Q3 of this year. That number gets even lower and even worse when we factor in race. When the total for all-female teams was 2.4% last year, black and Hispanic women hovered around 0.05% each, while Native Americans garnered roughly 0.004% of known capital in the United States, according to Crunchbase.

We’ve long worried that as the venture market slows, the most marginalized groups will be pushed aside as investors retreat to old networks and deals that feel most familiar to them from founders they don’t hesitate to trust. The straight line between the haves and the have-nots has always been clear, but there is some good news ahead.

Year-to-date capital invested in companies founded entirely by women in the United States is slightly higher than paid out in all of 2020. (Last year was a record year, and given current market conditions it’s not shocking that today’s numbers are nothing in comparison). All-female teams have raised $3.6 billion (out of a US total of $194.9 billion) through 742 deals so far this year. In all of 2020, all-female teams raised $3.3 billion (of $168.7 billion) through 771 deals. Clearly, 2021 was an outlier: All-female teams raised $8 billion through 1,132 deals.

It’s startling to note the difference between the number of deals and the amount of money raised when the founding teams are mixed gender and not just female. Compared to $3.6 billion in deals done by all-female teams this year, teams with at least one male co-founder raised $32.4 billion in 2,811 deals. So far, mixed-gender teams have also managed to secure the same percentage of capital they raised last year, around 17%.