"Two-thirds of every U.S. venture dollar going to female-founded startups last year flowed into AI, Pitchbook's latest US All In: Female Founders in the VC Ecosystem report found. And nearly half of that AI money went to just two companies: Anthropic and Scale AI. Meanwhile, ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati raised a record-breaking $2 billion seed round for her AI startup, Thinking Machines Lab, in July 2025, the largest seed funding in history, valuing the pre-product company at $12 billion."
"Deal count for female-founded companies fell for the fourth straight year, a contraction that began after a 2021 peak and has yet to reverse. The dollars are climbing, but they are pooling at the top, not spreading through the pipeline."
"In 2025, that dynamic reached a new extreme. AI swallowed two-thirds of every venture dollar invested in female-founded companies. Anthropic and Scale AI alone pulled in more than $30 billion-over 40% of all AI funding in the category. Their towering valuations of $183 billion and $74.1 billion, respectively, are what lifted female-founded companies above one-quarter of total U.S. deal value for the first time. Remove those two names, and the record disappears."
Female-founded startups raised a record $73.6 billion in 2025, nearly double the $44.7 billion from 2023. However, this apparent success masks significant structural problems. Deal count for female-founded companies has declined for four consecutive years since peaking in 2021. The AI boom has intensified concentration dynamics, with two-thirds of venture dollars to female-founded companies flowing into AI, and over 40% of that concentrated in Anthropic and Scale AI alone. These two companies' valuations of $183 billion and $74.1 billion account for the record funding levels; removing them eliminates the apparent victory. All-female founding teams continue to receive minimal capital, capturing just 2% of total funding.
#venture-capital-concentration #female-founders #ai-funding-disparity #startup-ecosystem-inequality #deal-count-decline
Read at Fortune
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]