50+ Investors and Funds for Female Founders

Education
Written By Lana Weal

Are you a female founder looking for funding? Submit an EOI to discover more.

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We know that female founders get less venture capital than their male counterparts and that there’s bias during the pitching process. But now is a great time to raise capital if you’re a female founder. There are many funds out there wanting to support the next generation of women entrepreneurs. Below are some of them.

Below is a curated list of game-changing investment firms focused on empowering more female founders.  

50+ female-founder focused investors & funds:

Atto VC

  • Location: Victoria, Australia

  • Founded: 2019 (Atto Accelerator), ~2022 (Atto Fund)

  • Founders: Kate Kendall

  • Website: Atto

  • Portfolio: Atto Startups

Atto is a global startup school for female founders. We are in the process of starting to fund early-stage female founders so please reach out. Submit an EOI – no founder or idea is too early – and we mean it. :)

ALIAVIA Ventures

“Our team are operators and investors who have scaled tech businesses from $0-$500m, through to IPO.“

ALIAVIA Ventures is focused on early-stage venture capital investing in the U.S and in Australia. They are focused on supporting female founders to build world-changing enterprise and consumer tech companies.

Alice Anderson Fund

  • Location: Melbourne, VIC, Australia

  • Founded: 2021

  • Founders: LaunchVic

  • Website: LaunchVic website

  • Portfolio: TBD

“The initiative will help women-led business overcome funding hurdles – a 2019 study revealed only 19 of 104 Victorian startups that received angel or venture capitalist investment had a woman as founder.“

The Alice Anderson Fund will co-invest $10M in early-stage capital for up to 60 women-led startups. Each dollar of the VIC government funding will be matched by three dollars of private investment, so the fund aims to unlock up to $40M in early-stage capital for female founders.

All Raise

  • Location: San Francisco, CA, USA

  • Founded: 2017

  • Founders: Jenny Lefcourt, Aileen Lee, Jess Lee, Sarah Tavel, Stacey Bishop & more

  • Website: All Raise

  • Portfolio: TBD

“A diversity of perspectives doesn’t just make things fair, it leads to better businesses, superior solutions, and more powerful outcomes.”

All Raise is on a mission to increase both: A) the amount of funding that goes to women, and B) the number of female decision-makers. It all started with an email exchange with 34 senior female investors who wanted to see more opportunities for women in startups and it has grown to an NFP community with programs that support founders, funders and operators.

They’re data-driven and include some great stats on their website about why they started the fund.

Amplifyher Ventures

“We don't see women as under-funded, we see them as untapped.“

With a focus on commerce, care and connectivity, Amplifyher Ventures is an early-stage fund focused on creating more diverse leadership teams. Run by a team of investors and operators, they’ve made over 30 investments.

Angel Academe

“Making angel investing easy, fun and rewarding for women (& men) who want to be part of a diverse investor network and back the best women-led tech startups.”

Angel Academe both invests in female-founded startups and educates the next generation of angel investors. On a mission to make angel investing easy for women, they’re focused on sharing education and connections that will lead to more investment for ambitious tech startups with at least one woman on the founding team.

ArcAngels NZ

“There’s no shortage of female led start-ups in New Zealand and many have huge potential.”

A micro-VC angel organisation, ArcAngels NZ is the first kiwi fund exclusively for female founders with over $2M committed. So far, they've invested $1.7M in over 20 companies across the tech sector.

Astia Angels

  • Location: San Francisco, CA, USA

  • Founded: 2013

  • Founder: Amy Gips & Cate Muther

  • Website: Astia

  • Portfolio: Astia portfolio

“Today's most impactful high-growth companies are led by inclusive teams with women leaders.”

The Astia Angels invest, advise and partner with inclusive teams with the mission of leveling the investment playing field for women. Astia also have a traditional venture capital fund, and Astia Edge invests in seed stage companies led by Black and LatinX women through a fund backed by corporate partners.

Auxxo

  • Location: Berlin, Germany

  • Founded: 2019

  • Founder: Dr. Gesa Miczaika, Fabiola Hochkirchen, Bettine Schmitz

  • Website: Auxxo

“We founded Auxxo to create awareness for the need to drive diversity in the investment world. And to show that being successful female investors is possible alongside having a family.”

Auxxo is a team of investors funding women through their Female Catalyst Fund, Angel Investments and they also have a group of 150+ female angel investors in Germany. Worldwide stats for women getting VC funding is around 2% while in Germany women get 16%. They invest in companies with female founders across Europe.

Backstage Capital

“L0ess than 10% of all venture capital deals go to Women, People of Color, and LGBT founders.”

With less than 10% of VC funding going to women, people of colour or LGBT founders, the Backstage Cpital fund is here to support those underrepresented people. They’ve made almost 200 investments with cheques ranging from $25:-$100K.

Founder Arlan Hamilton also wrote an inspiring book of her journey from homelessness to venture capitalist: It’s About Damn Time.

BBG Ventures

“Fortune favors the female.”

The BBG fund is dedicated to empowering the next generation of breakout companies that solve problems for the 99% e.g. health and wellbeing, future of education and work, climate-friendly products and platforms, and overlooked and emerging consumers.

They’ve raised multiple funds, made close to 100 investments, and had almost 10 exits.

Belle Capital

“We are women investors looking to fund women-led tech companies.“

An early-stage angel fund, this group is focused on building startups in underserved capital markets across the USA. They’re targeting the sectors: IT, tech-enabled products & services, digital health, and cleantech.

Black Girl Ventures

“We have funded 264 women of color, held over 30 BGV Pitch Programs across 12 cities and served over 2,000 participants. BGV pitch participants are collectively generating over $10M in revenue and supporting 3,000 jobs.“

Black Girl Ventures are on a mission to empower black and brown women-identifying founders with access to social and financial capital. Their programs and partners give founders access to community, capital and capacity building. They fund and scale revenue generating businesses (under USD$1M) and they’ve got 30 pitch programs across the East Coast of the US.

Boosting Female Founders Initiative

“The Australian Government has announced a total of $52.2 million in grant funding for this program.”

Designed to support female entrepreneurs to overcome disadvantages and give them access to finance and support to grow their businesses. The co-contribution grants are between AUD$25,000-$480,000 for female founders looking to expand domestically and internationally.


Borski Fund

“Borski Fund improves access to capital for companies that are either run by female entrepreneurs, or improve gender equality in a different way.” 

The Borski Fund is dedicated to investing in diverse teams. Their founding partners are TheNextWomen and StartGreen Capital. They invest in startups that have a women with at least 5% shareholding, a head office in The Netherlands and a minimum turnover of €500,000.

Bumble Fund

“We’re aiming to build a bigger table in the world of venture capital, investing early-stage and focusing primarily on businesses founded and led by women of color and those from underrepresented groups.” 

The Bumble Fund has a mix of investments into startups and into other funds including Cleo Capital, Female Founders Fund and a partnership with Black Girl Ventures.

They’re focused on early-stage founders with average cheque sizes of $25K-50K. Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd is one of the few women to take a company to IPO on the stock market, and was one of the youngest ever to do so.

Carla Zampatti Fund

  • Location: Sydney, NSW, Australia

  • Founded: 2022

  • Founders: NSW Government

"Late fashion designer and businesswoman Carla Zampatti will be recognised in the NSW budget with a $10 million venture capital fund supporting start-ups led by women."

The first round of the Caral Zapatti fund will open in 2023.

Chloe Capital

“Chloe Capital is more than a venture capital firm — we’re a movement!”

Chloe Capital have 11 portfolio companies totalling $135M+ in value. Their portfolio companies have created over 250 jobs and they consider themselves to have over 20,000 movement members. In mid-2021, they released a free short course on impact investing (free before Dec 31, 2021).


Cleo Capital

“We primarily lead rounds at Pre-Seed, working with amazing founders from day zero.”

The thesis-driven fund is focused on three areas: the future of income, complicated consumers and decentralised enterprise. The fund does pre-seed and seed investments of $500K-$1M. You can read more about Cleo Capital’s thesis on Medium.

Diversity VC

  • Location: London, England, United Kingdom

  • Founded: 2016

  • Founders: Anna Huyghues-Despointes, Check Warner, Farooq Abbasi, Lillian Li & Travis Winstanley

  • Website: Diversity VC Website

“Creating a fairer and more diverse Venture Capital industry.”

Diversity VC is a non-profit partnership promoting diversity in VC. While they aren’t a tradition VC firm, they support the wider startup community by sharing networks for VCS, pathways to hire more VCs from diverse backgrounds, ecosystem event support and data projects for research. Read more of their research about female founders in the UK.

Emmeline Ventures

“We invest in female founders building game-changing businesses which empower women, in particular, to manage their health, build their wealth, and live in a cleaner, safer world.”

Emmeline Ventures is a new fund dedicated to investing in and serving as catalysts for new and emerging female founders. Their name means work, brave and gentle - inspired by rule breaking women throughout history. They invest alongside other leading VCs in America.

Female Founders Fund

  • Location: New York, NY, USA

“Companies with female founders perform 63% better than those of their male peers.“

Founded by Ann Duggal, the fund has raised multiple funds and they’ve become the leading source of institutional capital for female founders raising seed rounds with over $3B in enterprise value.

They invest in ecommerce, media, platform, advertising, and web-enabled service based business. They’ve got an inspiring podcast: The Two Percent where they’ve interviewed game-changing female founders and investors.

Global Fund for Women

“A feminist funder for 30 years supporting gender justice movements to create meaningful change that will last beyond our lifetimes.”

This organisation has a big mission to advance the rights of women and girls worldwide. They do this by increasing the resources for and investing in women-led startups. They believe for a just, equitable and sustainable world, we need women and girls to have the resources, voice, choice and opportunities to realise their human rights.

Global Invest Her

“The $5 Trillion Opportunity.”

Global Invest Her demystifies the funding game for founders, investors and ecosystem players. Their goal is to enable more female founders to be ready for fundraising and that they get funded faster. They’ve got a big mission to fund one million women entrepreneurs by 2030.

Gotham Gal Ventures

“I have focused my thesis on female entrepreneurs — a decision that is more practical than philanthropic. Women founders tend to be tenacious and thorough. They ask questions and listen. They are great leaders. I have been and still am a tremendous champion and voice for women.“

Regarded as one of the original and most experienced angel investors, Joanne has made over 130 angel investments in a wide range of women-led companies. Joanne has profiled hundreds of inspiring female founders through her blog on Woman Entrepreneur Monday and the podcast Positively Gotham Gal.

Halogen Ventures

“Female-led businesses represent a massive opportunity“

Halogen Ventures is an early-stage venture capital fund for pre-seed, seed and series A investing in consumer technology companies led by women. “We believe in hands on attention and plug each of our portfolio companies into a strategic network of advisors, investors and accelerators in the greater venture community.“

How Women Invest

“Female founders are a force to be reckoned with - and yet are part of an untapped venture capital landscape.”

One of the newest funds on the list, How Women Invest leverages their professional network of thousands of women to provide capital, mentorship and networks to female founders. With an expert investment council, advisors and investors, they invest in B2B US based revenue generating startups.

Hypatia Invests (Hypatia Capital)

  • Location: New York, NY, USA

  • Founded: 2018

  • Founders: Patricia Lizarraga (Managing Parnter)

  • Website: Hypatia Capital Website

“What is at stake? Women are 50% of the population. 5% of CEOs are female.”

Hypatia Capital is an asset management firm focused on sponsoring female CEOs and investors. Their network of CEO-level women, assets managers, and public board members collaborate to support upcoming founders with both growth equity and buyout transactions. Hypatia Capital is a platform for investing in women in leadership and offers investment options for hedge funds, private equity, as well as venture capital and angels.

I Fund Women

  • Location: New York, NY, USA

  • Founded: 2016

  • Founders: Karen Cahn, Kate Anderson, Sarah Sommers

  • Website: IFundWomen Website

“When people can find you, they can fund you!”

IFundWomen is a two-sided funding marketplace for women-led businesses. Founders can raise capital and investors can support founders through the platform. They’re on a mission to support women entrepreneurs to get educated, raise capital and grow their businesses. Potential investors can search all open startup campaigns looking for funding.

Intel Diversity Initiative

“Since 2015, Intel Capital has committed more than $540 million in companies led by diverse teams.”

Founded in 1991, Intel Capital invests in innovative startups focused on solving problems in cloud, AI, cybersecurity and other disruptive tech. This Diversity Initiative started as a five-year goal to invest $125M into tech startups led by women and other underrepresented populations including Black, Latinx, and Native Americans. Intel Capital have invested in almost 1,500 startups and have had almost 500 exits. Diverse teams comprise of 16% of Intel Capital’s total portfolio.

January Ventures

“We believe the founders of the next decade will look fundamentally different: more female, more diverse and more distributed.”

Previously Jane VC, the fund invests in early stage startups with a focus on highly scalable software businesses building solutions for the future of work and health. They invest in US and Europe based companies with pre-seed and seed-stage capital. They emphasise on their home page that “no revenue, pitch deck or warm intro required“.

Jump Start Focus Fund

“Unlocking the full potential of diverse and ambitious entrepreneurs to economically transform entire communities.“

The Jumpstart Focus Fund is focused on investing seed capital into tech startups led by women and people of colour throughout Ohio. They invest from $250K in deep tech sectors including: software, medical, energy, automation, surveillance and solar. They’re looking for unique ideas, in large markets, with flexible founders, who have a startup with a potential exit down the track.

Merian Ventures

“Women-founded companies have been historically overlooked by the investment community.”

The Merian Ventures fund supports female founders in the US and UK. They’re focused on early-stage funding for women in deep tech sector like blockchain, cyber, AI, machine learning and consumer-facing tech.

New Voices Fund

“New Voices Foundation has invested more than $1.4 million in non-dilutive capital and matched support dollars in companies owned by women of color.”

Noting that women of colour entrepreneurs are the fastest growing segment of entrepreneurs in the US, this fund was created to empower more founders to get access to PACE (Purpose, Access, Capital, Expertise). Their community includes over 13,000+ women of colour running startups. They run regular pitch competitions where winners receive cash grants as well as mentoring post-competition. The fund has invested more than $1.4M over 9 startup pitch competitions for 87 women.

Pink Salt Ventures

"Pink Salt Ventures provides early-stage investment for high-growth female-led startups.”

Pink Salt Ventures is the UK’s first fund for female founders. They’re based in London and invest in pre-seed investor group backs market making female-led startups.

Portfolia

"Portfolia companies work relentlessly to bring break-through solutions to the world and provide returns to us, their investors.”

This venture fund was designed for women while backing innovative companies for returns and impact. They have 10 funds in market and invest in 8-12 companies per fund. They’re on a mission to support female founders and to support more women to step into the VC world.

Rethink Impact

  • Location: New York, NY, USA

  • Founded: 2015

  • Founders: Jenny Abramson

  • Website: Website

  • Portfolio: Portfolio

“The largest, US-based impact venture capital firm with a gender lens that invests in female leaders using technology to solve the world’s biggest problems.”

With a focus on companies with female CEOs, Rethink Impact is focused on supporting mission driven founders that use technology to positively impact people and the planet. They’re looking for startups with $500K-$15M in annual revenue, and they write $2M-$10M checks for late seed-series C capital rounds.

Scale Investors

“Our work today is creating the jobs and companies of the future. The need for women to participate and to succeed is absolutely critical to deliver real equality.”

This Australian-based angel network connects high net-worth individuals with startup investment opportunities. In their community, they’ve got over 250 investors which cumulatively have made over $12M in investments in almost 30 startups.

SheEO

“A global community of radically generous women.”

“SheEO invests in women-led and majority women-owned ventures that creates social impact through new models, new mindsets, and new solutions for a better world.” Their model is a new one - they bring together women to contribute to a Perpetual Fund (Activators) which is then loaned to emerging female founders at a 0% interest rate - selected by the Activators.

Shepreneur

  • Location: South Melbourne, VIC, Australia

  • Founded: 2021

  • Founders: Jacqui Bloom, Peter Terrill

  • Website: Shepreneur Website

“Shepreneur is on a mission to create an empowering community, enabling women from strength to strength.”

Shepreneur are a community empowering women in startups. They offer advisory and investing options for female founders and female-led ventures. They also offer revenue-based financing.

Sie Ventures

  • Location: London, England, United Kindgom

  • Founded: 2020

  • Founders: Triin Linamagi

  • Website: Sie Ventures Website

“We built Sie to drive more funding to Female Founders, with the ultimate goal to close the funding gap in tech ecosystem.”

According to Sie, 83% of VC funding in the UK goes to team with no women. They’re providing capital, community and ongoing support for female founders building startups. They’ve already invested in 25 female-led companies that have raised over £25M.

Sogal Ventures

  • Location: New York, NY, USA

  • Founded: 2017

  • Founders: Pocket Sun & Elizabeth Galbut

  • Website: Sogal Ventures Website

“SoGal Ventures represents how far our generation has come, and how deep our impact on the world can be.”

SoGal was the first female-led millennial VC firm. They believe in diverse, borderless businesses that focus on the future of commerce and human-centric design.

With a focus on early-stage diverse teams in the USA and Asia, they’ve made over 100 investments with many opportunities around consumer, healthcare and enterprise.

The Better Fund

  • Location: Tallin, Estonia

  • Founded: 2021

  • Founders: Ruth Valksaar, Liina Laas, Jana Budkovskaja

  • Website: The Better Fund Website

“ESG-focused fund, helping female-founders and gender-balanced teams in the BaltiNordics get access to capital to scale world-changing ideas.”

The Better Fund is sector agnostic funding with a preference for technology, wellness, environmental and education based startups across central and eastern Europe.

The Helm

“We make it easy to invest in women.”

The Helm is an early-stage venture firm investing in game-changing companies founded by women. They’ve invested almost $1.5M in seed capital into 11 female-led startups in the US. They also have a membership community for angel investors.

Unconventional Ventures

“We believe that underrepresented founders represent one of the biggest market opportunities today.“

Unconventional Ventures is unlocking the potential of underrepresented founders in the Nordics and beyond. They invest in pre-seed and seed stage companies that are purpose-driven and scalable. They run an accelerator and investing syndicate.

Voulez Capital

“Europe’s first VC for female founder, the fund invests in late seed stage companies with at least one female founder.”

Voulez Capital is focused on creating a better future were they support female founders with an environment where the founders and their startups can truly flourish. They champion ‘fair venture principles’.

WinEquity

  • Location: Paris, Ile-de-France, France

  • Founded: 2021

  • Founders: Florence Richardson, Cécile Bassot

  • Website: WinEquity Website

“WinEquity is an investment company founded by investors - entrepreneurs who actively finance and support innovative startups that have at least one woman in the founding team.“

WinEquity supports in women-led startups in France between €150K and €200K for raises between €500K and €3Million. They’ve partnered with Femmes Business Angels a leading network of female investors in Europe.

Women's VC Fund II

“Was there a sufficient pipeline of venture-worthy women entrepreneurs to merit a venture fund 100% committed to female entrepreneurs? After extensive research, the answer was a resounding YES.”

With a focus on the West Coast of the US, the fund makes investments in early-stage (A/B), revenue-generating, high-growth companies. They’re focused on the sectors where women are leaders, decision makers and consumers: enterprise SaaS, consumer internet, and edtech.

View the list of 40+ funds for female founders

Right now is a great time for women in startups as there are many communities, accelerators and investors specifically created to support women to thrive in business. 

If you’d like to join the Atto Academy to be a part of a community of ambitious women building tech startups, you can find out about the Academy or submit and EOI.

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Lana Weal
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