2018 Review of Funding for Female Founders
Written By Claire Burke
Edited by Kate Dwyer
Back in 2015, the Female Founders Fund published our first Annual Review on Fundraising, covering Series A rounds raised by female founders in 2013 and 2014. There was (and still is) a massive gap in total venture dollars raised by male and by female founders, so our goal was to track the numbers starting with the first institutional round of capital, which is often the hardest for founders. We’ve now been tracking the quantity, size, industry, and regions of female-led Series A deals over the past five years, and are excited to report our findings.
Back in 2013, there was only one Series A round raised by a female founder in New York; flash forward to 2018 and there were 19, representing exponential growth in the number of deals, plus a notable cultural shift in the city, showing a marked willingness to invest in women’s ideas and businesses developed to meet their needs. Meanwhile, in San Francisco, there were 19 Series A rounds closed by female founders in 2013, and 31 in 2018, showing a similar shift. These are huge milestones and while this progress doesn’t get us to 50/50, it does demonstrate things are moving in the right direction.
From a growth perspective, in 2018, female-led companies in varying industries and all stages of the startup lifecycle closed nine-figure rounds: Zola (Series D, $100m), Brandless (Series C, $240m), Minted (Series E, $208m), The RealReal (Series G, $115m), and 23andMe ($300m). These large rounds are a strong sign and positive indicator of growth potential and significant outcomes.
As we touch on below, some of the companies that we saw raised a Series A in 2013, ’14, and ’15 are now closing their third or fourth rounds of follow-on funding, again demonstrating the progress made by female founders from the bottom up, raising capital and scaling businesses over the past five years. According to Crunchbase, nearly $40 billion was invested in companies with at least one female founder, representing 17% of dollars invested last year.
Taking into account the data we’ve tracked since 2013, we’re excited to share key highlights for female-founded companies in 2018:
Tracking Progress: NYC & SF Female Founded Series A Rounds in 2018
Note that the data below contains information on financings reported on Crunchbase. (If we are missing any deals, please let us know.)
Series A Rounds in 2018
Our 2018 analysis began with an overall review of Series A rounds nationally and regionally.
Total Number of Series A Rounds Raised Nationally in 2018
In New York, female-led companies represented 13% of total Series A deals in the city. (Compare that to the 2.2% worldwide.) Most notably, the number of Series A deals led by female CEOs in NYC increased by 46% in 2018, from 13 to 19.
In the Bay Area, 31 female-led companies received A funding in 2018, representing 8% of total Series A rounds in the city, which is also higher than the worldwide average. In 2017, there were 18 female-led companies closing Series A in the Bay Area, which means that in 2018, the number of female-led Series A’s jumped by 72%.
The largest A round led by a female founder-CEO in the Bay Area was Oasis Labs, which raised $45 million led by Andreessen Horowitz’s Crypto Fund in July 2018.
Number of Series A Rounds Raised by a Female Founder/CEO
New York remains more female-founder friendly than the Bay Area
Even though there were more female-led deals in the Bay Area, the percentage of Series A companies led by women is still greater in NYC (13%) than in SF (8%), indicating that the VC ecosystem in NYC is more receptive to female talent.
“The landscape for female entrepreneurs in NYC has started to evolve into an ecosystem with active participation from the entrepreneurs, investors and media,” says ELOQUII founder Mariah Chase. “We need more resources and participants — more men — to play an active role in building a self-sustaining ecosystem that can ultimately seed and support female entrepreneurs in the future.”
The largest Series A in New York with a female founder-CEO was Scentbird, which raised $24.6 million in May 2018 led by Goodwater Capital. The next two largest were Maisonette, which raised $15 million led by NEA in May, and MIRROR, which raised $13 million led by Spark Capital in February.
“Over the last five years, New York has attracted the best talent when it comes to building a direct-to-consumer brand,” says Natalie Mackey, co-founder and CEO of Winky Lux, who raised a $6M Series A led by GGV in 2018. “As a founder, I’ve been able to lean on and learn from some of the best founders in the industry, most of whom are based in New York, and continue to innovate as the industry changes.”
Industries of Series A Rounds Raised in NY by a Female Founder/CEO in 2018
Ecommerce: 7
Media: 4
Software: 2
Healthcare: 2
FinTech: 1
Energy: 1
Coworking: 1
It’s worth noting that these startups span a wide range of industries. There were seven female-led NYC Series A deals in ecommerce (Scentbird, Maisonette, Universal Standard, Lively, The Sill, Dormify, Splendid Spoon, Winky Lux); four in media (Ox3 Productions, Shine Text, East Meets East, Hoo-Kong); two in software (Flip, Snappy App); two in healthcare (MIRROR, Parsley Health), and one each in fintech (Kindur), energy (BluePrint Power), and co-working (High Court).
In New York, there were over twice as many female-led Series B deals than in 2017
In 2017, there were 5 Series B rounds in New York led by a female founder; in 2018, there were 11, many of whom had raised Series A funding in 2017, further illustrating year-over-year growth. We reported their Series A deals last year. For example, healthcare startup Maven Clinic (led by Katherine Ryder) raised a $10.8 million Series A round in July 2017 and a $27 million Series B round in September 2018. Pymetrics (led by Frida Polli) raised an $8 million Series A round in September 2017, and a $40 million B round in September 2018. MIRROR raised both Series A and Series B in 2018, similar to Daily Harvest’s Series A and B in 2017.
In 2016, female CEOs in NYC raised Series B rounds worth an average of $15.8 million; in 2017, that number increased to $24.1 million; and in 2018, that number increased to $32.8 million.
In the Bay Area, there were 17 total Series B rounds led by female founders or CEOs, the largest of which, Cortexyme, raised $76 million from Sequoia Capital. As stated at the outset of this report, round sizes have continued to increase in each stage of the venture capital value chain.
Let’s Talk Growth
There are a handful of female-led companies in New York scaling quickly, and requiring more capital to do so. In order to meet this demand, they’ve raised funding rounds annually since their Series A. Examples include the The Wing, which raised a $75M Series C; Zola, which raised $100M Series D; Glossier, which raised a $52M Series C; Dia&Co which raised a $40M Series C; and Away, which raised a $50M Series C. These companies are setting an important precedent, paving the way for more female-led startups to raise rounds to support their hypergrowth.
“It’s been incredible to watch the NYC ecosystem transform as we see second generation-companies come out of the likes of Gilt, Rent The Runway, Diapers.com,” says Shan-Lyn Ma of Zola. “As a female founder, one of my primary focuses is hiring and the NYC talent pool continues to improve year after year across all verticals.”
Growth of LA as an ecosystem for female founders
As we saw in 2016 and 2017, Los Angeles remains among the most female entrepreneur-friendly cities in the U.S. There were a number of notable Series A deals, including Imbellus, led by CEO Rebecca Kantar, which raised a $14.5 million Series A round in October 2018 from Owl Ventures; Lumi, led by CEO Jesse Genet, which raised a $9 million Series A round in February 2018 from Spark Capital, Homebrew and Forerunner Ventures; and Blavity, led by CEO Morgan DeBaun, which raised a $6.5 million Series A round in July 2018 from GV.
Meanwhile, Tala, led by CEO Shivani Siroya, raised a $65 million Series C round in April 2018 led by Revolution Growth. Goop, led by CEO Gwyneth Paltrow, raised a $50 million Series C round in March 2018 from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Felix Capital, and New Enterprise Associates. Notice that Tala’s Series A closed in September 2015 at $10 million and Goop’s Series A closed in August 2015 at $10 million. Parachute, led by CEO Ariel Kaye, raised a $30 million Series C round in June 2018 from Upfront Ventures, H.I.G. Growth Partners, and Jaws Ventures; back in May 2016, its Series A closed at $4.8 million.
Shivani Siroya agrees. “Building Tala in LA has been incredible. With a true diversity of cultures, industries, and neighborhoods, there is an energy and excitement here that offers founders more choice in building a strong, equitable team and establishing your own standards. The competitive cost of living also gives you more control over the lifestyle you can live than the nearby Bay Area making it a great choice, particularly for female founders.”
Female Founded IPO’s and Exits Making History
In 2017, Stitch Fix went public, making it the first female-led technology company to IPO since January 2014. In 2018, Eventbrite (led by Julia Hartz) went public, marking the first time two female-led technology companies have IPO’d in consecutive years. With an expected IPO for TheRealReal in 2019, female-founded companies going public will soon be a regular occurrence, paving the way for female founders to follow the same path.
At its IPO, Eventbrite’s market cap was $1.8 billion. As of this report’s publication seven months after the initial IPO offering, its market cap is $2.4 billion. Eventbrite was founded in 2006, and raised a $250K seed round at its inception, raising a total of $332 million of institutional capital. Eventbrite is a prime example of a market trend we’ve noticed over the past five years: female-led companies that consistently raise capital, year after year, to sustain their high-growth rates.
Zola (co-founded by Shan-Lyn Ma) raised a Series A in 2013, Series B in 2015, a $25M Series C in 2017 and a $100M Series D in 2018. Eventbrite and Zola are proof that it all starts from the bottom. These women leaders are setting a precedent and inspiring more women to start companies, as more female-founded companies than ever closed funding rounds in 2018.
Additionally, in October 2018, ELOQUII, founded by Mariah Chase, was acquired by Walmart. More recently in 2019, The Laundress, founded by Gwen Whiting and Lindsey Boyd, and This is L., led by CEO Talia Frenkel, were acquired by Procter & Gamble.
“Our early funding rounds were crucial for ELOQUII — not only did they invest necessary capital to grow, but we added investors whose knowledge, connections and willingness to ‘dig in’ alongside us made a huge difference,” Chase says.
Key Takeaways
New York is more female-founder-friendly than ever, with the number of female-led Series A deals increasing by 38% in 2018, and female-led Series B deals increasing by 120%. Several companies that raised Series A in 2017 raised Series B in 2018, showing year-over-year growth. Companies like The Wing, Zola, and Glossier are on a tear, raising nine-figure rounds to help them scale quickly.
Los Angeles has emerged as an ecosystem where female founders thrive, showing notable year-over-year growth.
Female founders are seeing significant returns on exits, and companies like ELOQUII, Eventbrite, and Stitch Fix are setting a precedent for more acquisitions and female-led IPOs in 2019.
Looking back on the last five years, we’ve seen exponential growth in the institutional rounds raised by female founders, and more importantly, exponential growth in the number of female-led companies that have found product-market fit and achieved venture scale. Change is starting at the bottom and we’re looking forward to the next five years as female founders continue to break barriers and build the technology companies of tomorrow.
Appendix of Funding
2018 Series A Rounds — NYC — Female CEO
Scentbird — Mariya Nurislamova — 5/17/18 — $24.6
Maisonette — Sylvana Durrett — 5/17/18 — $15.0
MIRROR — Brynn Jinnett Putnam — 2/6/18 — $13.0
Parsley Health — Robin Berzin — 4/17/18 — $10.0
Kindur — Rhian Horgan — 12/12/18 — $9.0
Snappy Gifts — Hani Goldstein — 10/23/18 — $8.2
OX3 TV Production — Bianca Chen — 11/26/18 — $7.9
High Court — Colleen Brooks — 11/19/18 — $7.0
Universal Standard — Polina Veksler — 2/19/18 — $7.0
WearLively — Michelle Cordeiro Grant — 9/11/18 — $6.5
Winky Lux — Natalie Mackey — 6/1/18 — $6.0
Shine — Naomi Hirabayashi, Marah Lidey — 4/4/18 — $5.0
The Sill — Eliza Blank — 8/16/18 — $5.0
East Meet East — Mariko Tokioka — 4/12/18 — $4.0
Flip — Susannah Vila — 7/1/18 — $4.0
Blueprint Power — Robyn Beavers — 7/31/18 — $3.5
Dormify — Caren Sinclair-Kay — 11/8/18 — $3.5
Hoo-Kong — Alexis Davis — 5/8/18 — $-
Sea Bean Goods (Splendid Spoon) — Nicole Centeno — 5/1/18 — $-
2018 Series A Rounds — Bay Area — Female CEO
Oasis Labs — Dawn Song — 7/9/18 — 45.0
Verge Genomics — Alice Zhang — 7/17/18 — 32.0
Aclima — Davida Herzl — 6/26/18 — 24.0
Ayar Labs — Alex Wright-Gladstein — 11/8/18 — 24.0
Magnetic Insight — Anna Christensen — 12/12/18 — 18.0
Supira Medical — Jean Orth — 4/25/18 — 15.5
True Botanicals — Hillary Peterson — 3/9/18 — 14.1
HubHaus — Shruti Merchant — 3/9/18 — 12.0
Honeycomb — Charity Majors — 2/1/18 — 11.5
Cleo — Shannon Spanhake — 6/13/18 — 10.5
Paradata — Debbra Rogers — 6/7/18 — 10.5
Future Family — Claire Tomkins — 10/18/18 — 10.0
Simple Habit — Yunha Kim — 11/13/18 — 10.0
Intabio — Lena Wu — 10/30/18 — 9.5
Full Harvest — Christine Moseley — 8/15/18 — 8.5
Grabr — Daria Rebenok — 3/6/18 — 8.0
Sempre Health — Anurati Mathur — 8/29/18 — 8.0
Woebot Labs — Alison Darcy — 3/1/18 — 8.0
HealthCrowd — Neng Bing Doh — 7/25/18 — 7.2
Allume — Mauria Finley — 6/1/18 — 7.0
TeraPore Technologies — Rachel Dorin — 3/6/18 — 6.0
Univfy — Mylene Yao — 2/6/18 — 6.0
Sandstone Diagnostics — Karen Drexler — 1/16/18 — 5.8
SoloLearn — Yeva Hyusyan — 9/27/18 — 5.6
Deep Isolation — Elizabeth Muller — 4/15/18 — 4.0
Packlane — Miriam Brafman — 6/7/18 — 4.0
Insitro — Daphne Koller — 5/2/18 — 0.0
My Ally — Deepti Yenireddy — 10/10/18 — 0.0
SelfieMark Inc — Paula Stewart — 4/26/18 — 0.0
Trace Genomics — Diane Wu — 11/13/18 — 13.0