Statistics regarding female founders are quite enlightening. While the number of female entrepreneurs has been steadily increasing, there are still uphill battles. While investment has been increasing, the percentage of VC funding to women starting companies remains appallingly low. According to Forbes, 2024 numbers show that 2.1% of VC funds in the US go to solely female founded companies. Teams with male and female founders secured 20.9%, while male-only teams received the vast majority at 77%. Unfortunately, according to this Pitchbook chart, we’re backtracking in 2025:
The pandemic drove a lot of women out of the work force and led to an upsurge in entrepreneurial activities among many women as they emerged from that period. According to Wells Fargo, between 2019 and 2023, women started new businesses at twice the rate of men.
So, why does this investment disparity remain? There are a variety of factors. For one, gender bias is real. Anecdotally, one founder I spoke with said she started bringing her brother along with her to VC meetings as an experiment and she could say that the meetings were decidedly different from when she went on her own. This is exacerbated by the fact that many investment firms have few women as partners or associates–a trend that is seeing some improvement. And some of it is self-inflicted with a percentage of women mentioning that the often manifested “imposter syndrome” and/or a discomfort with networking are their own inhibitors.
Some investors offer the dreaded questions about “work/life balance” issue and many wonder whether those same questions emerge when they’re speaking with male founders. But, one female founder I spoke with felt that these questions, whether related to the investment stage or ongoing operations and growth, are legitimate.
“Real inclusivity is giving women equal opportunity but recognizing the complexities often faced and having an understanding about that. Whether it’s infertility, pregnancy, childbirth, mother’s guilt, and perimenopause, it’s going to happen,” she noted.
Being creative when looking for investment is important for female founders. Some explore avenues such as bootstrapping, friends and family, angels, government loans or even crowdfunding depending on their level of need. It may slow the incremental growth but allow the founders to maintain more equity and control. Some look specifically to those investors who publicly state that they like to focus on diverse founders. The DEI backlash is complicating matters in that regard, at least in the U.S. Investors have to consciously be open to looking at female and other underrepresented founders in today’s climate. There is a business case for being open to all founders but finding investors who are conscious of that is sometimes a challenge.
Now, let’s look at the upside of investing in female founders. Research by Boston Consulting Group and MassChallenge found that women-led startups generated 78 cents for every dollar of funding, compared to 31 cents for male-led startups. And, a 2020 report by that same firm indicated that startups founded or co-founded by women generate 10% more revenue over five years than those founded by men, despite receiving less funding.
Female founders often bring different characteristics to their endeavors. They’re often considered resilient, creative and adaptable, offering empathetic leadership, effective communication and solid goal-setting.
I put to some of the founders in our SheEO group a question on helpful hints that they’ve learned. Several remarked about what I would term as “building your tribe”. It’s really important to bring the folks inside your circle who may function as mentors who can offer some guidance and wisdom, challengers who will play devil’s advocate to help you see an issue from all angles, cheerleaders to support you in tough times and celebrate your wins. Finding these folks, whether male or female, is critical to success.
Yet others remarked about concentrating on building a positive corporate culture as you scale your business. Your employees make or break your company so do what you can to foster their own entrepreneurial spirits within the company, keep them happy, engaged and customer focused. Stay focused on your goals and the path to reach them and don’t feel like you have to say yes to every opportunity that comes your way. Plan but don’t be afraid to pivot or try new things remaining as adaptable as possible. Know what you’re good at, focus on that and find folks who can do the other necessary duties. And don’t undervalue yourself. You need to know your own worth and believe in it.
So, hopefully, we’ll see some improvements in the number of female startups in the gaming industry as time goes on. We’ve seen some great exits by female founders in ’24 and hope to see more this year.
