The Gender Funding Gap in Venture Capital: A Closer Look at Women Entrepreneurs in 2025

In 2025, global venture capital investment reached an impressive $425 billion, yet startups founded entirely by women secured a mere 2% of this total. Even when including companies with mixed-gender founding teams, startups involving women attracted just over 12% of global venture funding. This stark disparity highlights one of the most significant imbalances in the global startup economy.

Despite these numbers, the funding gap does not fully capture the dynamic landscape across various sectors such as finance, healthcare, artificial intelligence, mobility, and digital commerce. Women entrepreneurs are actively building companies that address everyday challenges—ranging from saving money and accessing diagnostics to paying school fees and commuting to work. Many of these businesses are growing steadily, creating new markets and improving access to essential services.

As the world prepares to celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) 2026, the focus has shifted from merely asking whether women are entering business to exploring how they are influencing and bolstering entire sectors.

Fintech: Expanding Access to Money

Financial technology has emerged as one of the most visible sectors where women are establishing scalable companies. In Nigeria, PiggyVest, co-founded by Odunayo Eweniyi, has become one of the country’s most popular savings and investment platforms. It allows users to automate savings and invest small amounts through a mobile app, serving as an accessible entry point into personal finance for many youths.

Eweniyi is also a co-founder of FirstCheck Africa, an investment fund aimed at providing early-stage funding for female-led technology startups across the continent. Another notable Nigerian fintech platform is Bamboo, co-founded by Yanmo Omorogbe, which enables Nigerians to buy and trade U.S. stocks directly from their phones, catering to young investors eager for global market exposure.

Across the continent, women are building platforms focused on financial inclusion. Shecluded, founded by Ifeoma Uddoh, offers loans and financial training to female entrepreneurs, addressing the challenges women face in accessing credit from traditional banks. Similarly, Hervest, founded by Solape Akinpelu, provides savings and investment products tailored for African women, including smallholder farmers. At the grassroots level, social enterprise Mamamoni, created by Nkem Okocha, offers microloans and vocational training for women in low-income communities.

These platforms collectively illustrate how fintech innovation in Africa is reshaping financial behaviors like saving, investing, and accessing credit, rather than merely digitizing traditional banking.

Health Technology: Solving Long-Ignored Healthcare Gaps

Healthcare is another sector where women entrepreneurs are addressing problems often overlooked by traditional investors. In Nigeria, Healthtracka, founded by Ifeoluwa Dare-Johnson, allows users to book laboratory tests online and receive diagnostic results digitally. The company raised $1.5 million in seed funding to expand its services across Africa, tackling significant gaps in the healthcare system.

Another Nigerian startup, Clafiya, founded by Jennie Nwokoye, connects patients with verified healthcare providers, offering digital access to medical consultations and services. Pharmarun, founded by Teniola Adedeji, helps individuals locate and finance prescription medications across African markets, while One Health, founded by Adeola Alli, is building a mobile-first platform that simplifies pharmacy services and access to primary healthcare.

Globally, women founders are also making strides in digital health. The U.S.-based Maven Clinic, founded by Katherine Ryder, provides virtual care services covering pregnancy, fertility, and family health, achieving a valuation above $1 billion. Another rapidly growing health company is Kindbody, founded by physician Gina Bartasi, which operates fertility clinics and digital reproductive health platforms.

These businesses demonstrate how women founders are transforming neglected healthcare challenges into scalable technology markets.

Enterprise Software and Artificial Intelligence

The technology sector, particularly in enterprise software and artificial intelligence, remains male-dominated. However, several women entrepreneurs are making significant contributions. Canva, co-founded by Melanie Perkins, has evolved into one of the world’s most widely used design tools, serving over 150 million users globally. In the AI sector, Scale AI, co-founded by Lucy Guo, provides data infrastructure essential for training artificial intelligence systems.

These companies are integral to the digital economy, building the tools and infrastructure that other businesses rely on.

Mobility and Urban Transport

Women founders are also tackling everyday urban challenges, especially in transportation within rapidly growing cities. In Nigeria, Shuttlers, founded by Damilola Olokesusi, operates a scheduled bus-sharing platform designed to alleviate commuting stress in cities like Lagos. Users can book bus seats through a mobile app, and the company has raised over $5 million in funding to expand its operations.

Urban mobility presents one of the most significant challenges in expanding African cities, and platforms like Shuttlers offer structured alternatives to chaotic public transport systems.

Logistics and Cross-Border Commerce

As eCommerce continues to expand across Africa, logistics startups are becoming increasingly vital. Sendsprint, founded by Damisi Busari, focuses on simplifying cross-border remittances and international payments. Meanwhile, Fez Delivery, founded by Seun Alley, is building last-mile delivery infrastructure for businesses and consumers across African cities. These logistics companies form the backbone of digital commerce, connecting online marketplaces to physical deliveries.

Education Technology and Financial Literacy

Education financing is another area where women founders are innovating. Schoolable, co-founded by Angela Essien, provides financing tools that allow families and schools to spread tuition payments over time. The company has also developed digital tools to teach financial literacy to students, addressing the issue of school fees that often limit access to education in many African countries.

The Funding Paradox

Despite these impressive initiatives, women founders still receive a disproportionately small share of venture capital. Data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor indicates that women are launching businesses at rates comparable to men in many regions. However, access to capital remains uneven. In Africa, female-founded startups raised approximately $256 million in venture funding in 2025, representing just 10% of the continent’s total equity investment, according to research from Partech Partners.

Part of the challenge lies within the investment industry itself, where women hold fewer than one-fifth of senior roles in venture capital firms globally. Investment networks, which often determine who receives funding, are predominantly male-dominated.

The Industries Women May Transform Next

Several emerging sectors are poised for stronger participation from women entrepreneurs in the coming years. Applications of artificial intelligence in healthcare and education are expanding, while climate technology—covering renewable energy, environmental monitoring, and sustainable agriculture—is also gaining traction. The care economy, which includes childcare services, elder care, and home healthcare, is another fast-growing field likely to become indispensable as populations age and cities expand.

A Change Already Underway

The venture capital gap is a pressing issue, and women founders continue to receive a small share of global startup investment. However, the companies they are building are making significant strides in solving problems that affect millions. While the change may not always be widely publicized, it is already enhancing markets across multiple industries. Women are not merely joining the startup economy; they are actively shaping its future.