Despite all being relatively quiet on the VC funding front of late, female founders are still securing significantly more investment deals than they were five years ago.

Recently updated data from market analysts PitchBook finds that so far in 2023, some 5.4% of European VC deals were female-only, compared to 2.6% in 2008. While in the US, 7% of deals were female-founded in 2023 versus 3.8% in 2008. Both figures are close to double, and the year is not over yet.

However, when looking closer at VC capital investment in Europe, there is actually been a decline in the actual capital provided to female-founded companies at just 1.4% in 2023, compared to 2.6% in 2008.

You might be thinking that VC funding has slowed down across the board, but it has actually been in decline for female-founded companies over the last five years, including when the market was buoyant in 2020 and 2021. In these years, female-founders in Europe took just 1.9% and 1.2% of the capital pie respectively. So while the number of European deals is increasing, the value of these deals is decreasing.

In the US, it’s a slightly different story. Though female-only founded companies took 7% of all deals in 2023, this is actually a slight improvement on both 2021 (6.6%) and 2020 (6.2%).

Co-founded companies attract more investment

However, when an organisation has female and male founders, the data shows they attract a greater volume of deals, and higher value deals too.

In 2023, 19.7% of all European deals were made with female and male founders, while 17.6% of capital was directed to these companies. In the US, the deal count was similar to Europe for female and male-founded companies, at 19.3% in 2023, but the value of capital soared to account for 22.8% in 2023, up from 16.4% in 2022.

How to know if a female-founded organisation is progressive

Female-founded and co-founded organisations often share common positives and score better when it comes to the gender pay gap, sexual harassment, the motherhood penalty, and the glass ceiling.

However, not all companies are created equal. Before spending time applying to work at a particular company, do some research.

Check out your country's office for national statistics to see if there is available research on the gender pay gap in the company you are applying to, though this is often only available for larger organisations rather than start-ups and scale-ups.

In the UK for example, finance and insurance has a whopping 22.4% gender pay gap, compared to the median 9.4%, while science and technology pay gap is currently 14.5%.

Read Glassdoor reviews, looking for notes on flexible work arrangements, paid family leave, investment in employee development, and inclusivity. Then cross-reference the company name with reports like the Best Workplaces for Women, which has UK and US editions, and the company’s own diversity, equity and inclusion statements and policies.

If you are unhappy with your employer’s DE&I policies and practices, it might be time to look somewhere else. Visit the Finextra Job Board to see roles on offer right now, including these three below.

Vice President, Start Path Emerging Fintech Lead, Mastercard, London

A senior role has emerged in Mastercard’s global start-up engagement programme Start Path, which works in over 40 countries to drive best-in-class commercial fintech deals, investments and partnerships.

The Vice President of Emerging Fintech for Start Parth is focused on fostering partnerships with and investments in emerging fintech technologies, as well as supporting fintech strategy across the organisation. Research and analysis, using data to garner insights, and developing critical strategic recommendations around partnerships and investments is central to this position. A solid understanding of financial concepts like DCF, NPV, IRR is required, as is a proven track record of successful collaboration in a large organisation.

If you are a strategic thinker who is well-versed in fintech start-up engagement and venture capital domains, check out this role today.

Strategy and M&A Consultant Fintech - Strategy& - Senior Manager, PwC, London

Join a fast-growing team in PwC that works with the leading UK and international business and private equity investors in this senior strategy and consultancy role.

The successful candidate will work with corporate clients and investors helping them tackle their toughest decisions, in a position that is a mix of corporate strategy and transaction-related work across all aspects of fintech. Previous strategy consulting experience in fintech and/or financial services is ideal, as is experience conducting and managing commercial due diligence. Strong client management skills are essential.

Find out more here.

Full Stack Developer Ruby AWS React, client server, London

A fintech that specialises in providing small, short-term secured loans that allows people to improve their credit rating is seeking a Full Stack Developer with strong Ruby skills.

The company’s platform is built using Ruby on Rails (with a PostgreSQL database backend) hosted entirely in AWS (Amazon Web Services), and its frontend is predominantly done using JavaScript/TypeScript (including React and Redux). The successful candidate will be working across the full technology stack. With an option to work from home, the position comes with a whole host of other benefits including pension, life assurance, private medical care, income protection and a dental scheme.

Read more about it here.

Visit the Finextra Job Board today start exploring open roles.