The gender investment gap remains a persistent challenge across European startup ecosystems, with Germany facing particularly stark disparities. According to the EY Startup Barometer 2025, female-founded startups received just €43M in 2024, a 58% decrease from €102M in 2023. Meanwhile, startups with all-male founding teams secured €6.2B, representing a €1.3B (25%) increase from 2023.
A steep decline for female founders alongside significant growth for male founders highlights a widening gender investment gap. Female-founded startups now represent just 1% of total investment volume, down from 2%, despite making up 4% of funded startups.
What does this mean for women’s future in Germany’s entrepreneurial landscape? Tech Funding News spoke to female founders and investors in the DACH region. Here’s what they told us.
Female founders face severe funding deficit
The 2024 funding statistics paint a clear picture: out of 702 German startups that received investment, only 27 (4%) had all-female founding teams, while 122 (17%) had mixed-gender teams. Male-only teams dominated with 553 startups (79%).
Mixed-gender teams secured €834 million(12% of total investment volume), more than female-only teams but still far behind male-only teams. Among the 1,827 founders who secured funding in Germany in 2024, just 194 (10.6%) were women, down from 12.2% in 2023 — a concerning trend in the German startup ecosystem’s gender diversity.
“The funding landscape in the DACH region shows signs of stabilisation after a decline, yet female founders face persistent challenges, particularly in the early stages. Since investors typically back founders similar to themselves and are crucial early supporters, the scarcity of female angel investors means fewer women-led startups advance to later stages, perpetuating the funding gap. Additionally, German bureaucracy remains a significant obstacle for all founders,” Natalie Milde, ESG & Impact Lead at Future Energy Ventures, told TFN.
Natalia Tomiyama, Founder & CEO at NÜWIEL, said: “The investment market became overall very conservative and pragmatic in the past 2 years, at least what we observe in the hardware climate tech. The fundraising takes twice longer the times not only for the startups but also for the VC’s own funds.”
Bryony Cooper, Director of Investor Relations at PT1, shared her firsthand experience: “Having been a startup founder, I’m well aware of the fundraising challenges women face, often in the form of unconscious bias from VCs. While diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are frequently discussed, they must be practised actively and consciously to create a more equitable investment landscape.”
On the gender gap, Valérie Bures-Bönström added: “The real challenge isn’t just that women struggle to get funding — it’s that too few even pursue entrepreneurship in the first place. The root causes run deep: societal expectations, financial instability, and the overwhelming burden of childcare make it nearly impossible for many women to take the risk. Unlike many men, who can often rely on a partner for stability, women face a ‘double risk’ when starting a business, juggling financial uncertainty with family responsibilities. It’s almost suicidal to try.”
Claire Hae-Min Gusko, co-Founder from one.five, noted: “One thing I have experienced is that if you’re a female founder with a male co-founder who is aware of their privilege and is willing to hold themselves and others accountable to a higher standard – it’s a huge weight off your shoulders. Trying to fight for equality in every room while maintaining the mental capacity to build a company and endure all those challenges is an impossible task.”
“I don’t think we’ll ever reach 50-50 parity, and that’s okay. We need more female fund partners, which I’m starting to see happen. But this will take time — we can’t expect the system to change overnight. Creating a more balanced approach might take a decade or two,” noted Jenny Saft, co-founder of apryl.
Funding size vs. gender representation
The report reveals a clear correlation between funding amounts and gender representation. Female founders account for 13.2% of startups securing smaller financing rounds of up to €1 million. This percentage steadily decreases as financing volumes increase, falling to 10.6% for deals between €1.1 million and €10 million and further declining to just 7.1% for large deals exceeding €50 million.
This disparity becomes even more pronounced for substantial financing rounds. In startups that received funding of at least €50 million, women comprise only 1.8% of founding teams. This data demonstrates that the gender gap widens dramatically at higher funding levels.
Tomiyama explained:”One reason for this is the economical situation in Germany and global geopolitic. Another could be a massive wave of insolvencies of the European unicorns-to-be. Nevertheless, there are always opportunities for investment. For instance, investment in ai-startups and agritech seems to be growing.”
“Several key networks and funds are helping female entrepreneurs break in: Mentorship & Networking: Female founder office hours (e.g., Playfair) offers direct access to VCs for advice. Amela provides peer support for female founders and investors. Unlock VC, Europe’s largest female founder network, has workshops, events, and job boards. Female-Focused Investors: Auxxo is a Berlin-based VC investing only in female-led teams. Evangelista is a female angel network backing early-stage startups,” added Luisa Kraut, a Deeptech VC at Join Capital in Berlin.
Lower Saxony leads with 18% female representation
German states show significant variations in female founder representation. Lower Saxony leads at 18%, followed by Hamburg at 17% (26 women out of 156 founders). Berlin maintains 12%, while Bavaria (9%) and North Rhine-Westphalia (5%) lag.
“Germany’s startup scene focuses on industry and local funding. In Baden-Württemberg (BW) and North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), manufacturing and engineering dominate, with fewer female role models and a male-skewed STEM talent pipeline. Founders often base startups around industrial giants, supported by university and corporate incubators in deep tech. While funding favours industrial innovation, sectors with more female founders, like health and e-commerce, struggle to gain traction,” explained Kraut.
The startup infrastructure varies significantly by region. Berlin offers strong support networks and targeted programs for female founders, while Munich focuses on university spin-offs in hardware and deep tech. Lower Saxony maintains modest startup activity around universities, and cities like Düsseldorf and Cologne feature traditional, industry-driven ecosystems influenced by their strong corporate connections. The persistent East-West economic divide further compounds these regional differences.
Mihri Minaz, co-founder at usebeams, explained to TFN: “Berlin has the rocket internet success story 15 years ago, which shaped the Berlin tech scene (copy cats, not much innovation but more market focus startups, considering selling to an american competitor as a success), then there are some fintech success (N26, trade republic) -> which also shapes the berlin ecosystem as fintech including many former N26 employees launching their startups. Both are pretty much male dominated mindsets & success stories.”
Milde stated, “Women face similar struggles across Germany, but the startup infrastructure varies by region. Berlin has a strong support network for female founders, with targeted government and private initiatives. Munich is shaped by university spin-offs in hardware and deep tech, where female representation is lower. Lower Saxony has some startup activity near key universities but lacks vibrancy. Düsseldorf and Cologne boast strong corporate ties in finance and media, with a more traditional startup scene. The East-West economic divide also impacts development.”
AgTech is a top choice for female founders, at 25%
The gender distribution varies significantly across industry sectors. AgTechleads has the highest proportion of female founders at 25%, followed by e-commerce at 23% and education at 22%. Only 11% of startups in software & analytics, which attracted the highest funding rounds in 2024, were founded by women.
At the same time, the health sector exhibited greater diversity, with 21% of startups founded by women. Energy, fintech, and insurtech lagged significantly, with women founding only 7% of startups in these sectors despite their substantial funding volumes.
Niharika (Nia) Rakheja, co-founder and CEO of Drift, offered the perspective: “These sectors often intersect with lived experience — women are building the products they wish existed. That authenticity drives strong product-market fit. There’s also a purpose-driven element that resonates deeply, especially when creating solutions with long-term impact.”
“Certain sectors attract more female founders, but challenges persist. Healthtech and Climatetech are appealing due to existing representation in healthcare and sustainability, yet the funding gap remains significant (female founders in ClimateTech received only 1.14% of total 2024 funding). E-commerce offers lower costs and quicker scaling, making it a popular choice. While AgTech benefits from EU sustainability funding, it remains male-dominated. Thus, some industries are more accessible than AI or DeepTech, but women still encounter funding and scaling barriers,” said Lou Arzur from Vireo Ventures.
While female representation remains low across all sectors, the growing AI landscape presents a concerning trend. Despite AI investments surging from 5% to 15% of total funding between 2023 and 2024 (a 134% increase), female representation in this high-growth area remains notably low.
“Progress is evident: more women are entering VC and entrepreneurship, and stronger networks support female founders. However, funding gaps won’t close on their own — we must act. At Xaura, the investment club I co-founded, we have 40 members but only two women. I assumed women would join naturally, but male-dominated networks tend to perpetuate themselves. It’s not that women aren’t interested, but they often don’t see a way in. I can’t rely on my male co-founders to change this — I need to be more visible and intentional in outreach. Female founders also need investors who actively create space for them,” concluded Arzur.
Germany demonstrates the lowest proportion of female founders in the region
Germany lags in female founder representation among German-speaking countries in the DACH region. In 2024, Germany’s female founder percentage was 10.6% (194 women out of 1,827 founders), while Switzerland led with 14.2% (131 women out of 921 founders) and Austria maintained 11.2% (35 women out of 313 founders).
Switzerland’s startup ecosystem shows not only higher female representation but also greater resilience in funding. The EY Startup Barometer reports that 7% of funded Swiss startups had all-female founding teams. Switzerland also experienced the smallest overall financing decline compared to Germany and Austria, suggesting that more balanced ecosystems may better weather funding fluctuations.
“Despite challenges, the momentum for female-led startups is growing, with more funds and accelerator programs targeting diverse founders. The shift toward impact-driven investments may also improve funding access. However, ensuring sustained progress requires continuous efforts from investors, policymakers, ecosystem builders and founders,” concluded Milde.
Rakheja noted: “I’m cautiously optimistic. The data is sobering, but it’s sparking overdue conversations. As more investors realize the untapped potential of overlooked founders, and as more women build visibly ambitious, venture-scale companies, the tide will shift. It has to — innovation depends on it.”
Minaz added: “I think every female founder now has the responsibility of being a success story for upcoming female founders. A male founder does not have that responsibility. If they fail, they are vanished noone talks about them. But since there are only so little female founders, any failure sticks. But also success will also encourage upcoming female founders and will also make more investors believe in their probability of fundraising and success.”
This disparity is especially concerning, given the current technological transformation. As artificial intelligence drives significant investment growth, ensuring equal funding access for female entrepreneurs is crucial. Without intervention, the gender gap risks widening as investment flows predominantly to male-dominated technology sectors.
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