Funding for US based AI companies with at least one female founder have grown steadily in recent years, according to data from Crunchbase.
Last year, such companies raised $3.61 billion of the $23.5 billion total allocated to US AI startups, or about 15.38%. That is a steady year-over-year increase. For example, AI companies with at least one female founder raised 13.2% of all capital raised in the sector in 2021. In 2020 it was 11.6% and 11.5% in the pre-pandemic year 2019. This is exciting.
Typically, during times of corporate downturn, women and people of color are negatively impacted when investors withdraw into the traditional networks they deem safe. Please note that this data may be slightly inflated as all companies are counted with at least one female founder; usually all-female teams bring in much, much less than mixed-gender teams, giving way to the narrative that a man’s presence always adds—or, in this case, maintains—a woman’s value.
