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At a recent coffee meeting with an investor in Stockholm, we talked about some of the great generative AI startups we’ve both met. For example, one-year-old Leya, which does AI for legal and has just raised its Series A, came up.
Leya, as well as LegalFly and Dust (all with funding rounds this month), are examples of a GenAI boom that has seen the sector raise more in 2024 so far than it has in any previous full year, according to a recent report by data platform Dealroom. That same report shows that AI startups more broadly have raced to secure 18% of all VC funding in Europe.
But view the “About Us” or LinkedIn pages of the companies raking in the capital and you’ll see a common theme: the vast majority of them have men-only founding teams.
None of the companies on the list of the 10 biggest European GenAI funding rounds in Sifted’s recent report on H1 dealmaking has a female cofounder. Scroll a bunch of the recent AI fundraises and it’s the same.
Across European tech in general, female founders have a hard time raising capital. According to Atomico’s State of European Tech report, only 3% of venture capital in Europe went to all-women founding teams last year; 82% went to all-men founding teams.
There are women-led AI startups out there. Sifted recently covered agentic AI startup Stanhope AI’s £2.3m raise, for example. Beyond that, it seems like it’s slim pickings. So with GenAI being the hottest area for investment at the moment, where are all the female founders?
During the same conversation with the investor, I could only think of one other female-founded GenAI startup, Swedish-born AI learning copilot Melon. But it shut down in March, because it “didn't have enough success to be profitable or gain the confidence of investors,” the founder told me in an email.
Recent AI developments promise to be a core part of future businesses, so it’s a big problem from a diversity perspective if women aren’t involved in shaping it.
As the investor I spoke to pointed out: “AI is getting all the venture capital at the moment. If women are not starting AI startups the gap in capital raised between male and female entrepreneurs will grow even further.”
Am I wrong to think there are so few female-led AI startups? Are there others I’ve just not come across? If there are, are they being funded? As always, if you have thoughts you want to share — please get in touch.
