At the current pace, 2025 is tracking to be the lowest year on record for capital raised by female-only founding teams, according to the latest quarterly tracking from Cut Through Venture.
Female-only teams accounted for less than 0.5 per cent of total capital raised this quarter, making it a particularly weak period for female-led companies. In comparison, 2024 saw the percentage share of total capital raised by female-only founded companies sitting at 2 per cent, and in 2023 it was at 3 per cent, showing a steady decline.
Mixed-gender founding teams performed better this quarter, however, nearly 90 per cent of that capital went to global payments group Airwallex, which raised $232M in Series B+.
The next highest rounds by female founders were Springboards which raised $5M in the seed round, RISE raising $4M in the seed round and Heatseeker raising $2M in angel and pre-seed.
The quarterly report shows that female-founded deal participation fell across all stages except pre-seed. No female-only founded companies raised a round at the seed stage or later.
Overall, only 11 announced deals this quarter involved a female founder, including Airwallex, with just $29 million in capital flowed to female-led companies during that time.
Two months ago, Airwallex became the first technology startup since Canva to secure the backing of the nation’s three largest venture capital firms (Square Peg Capital, Airtree Ventures and Blackbird Ventures). The company was co-founded by Lucy Liu, who is now president.