It's well known that startups founded by women struggle to raise venture capital, but even the rare exceptions struggle to keep pace with male peers. Since 2008, less than half of all-female founding teams have secured follow-on capital for their startups, compared more than half of all-male founding teams, according to PitchBook.
Why it matters: Follow-on fundraising difficulties contribute to an unvirtuous cycle, dissuading some early-stage investors from backing female founders.
Only 39% of all-female founder teams raise follow-on funding for their startups, compared to 52% for all-male teams. Moreover, follow-on rounds for all-female teams comprise just 1.57% of all VC rounds since 2008.
Since 2012, mixed-gender founder teams have raised between 11% and 13% of seed capital (compared to less than half of that for all-female teams), according to Crunchbase.
But, but, but, BBG Ventures' Susan Lyne, whose firm exclusively invests in teams with a least one female founders, tells Axios: "Of companies that went out to raise a series A, most have been successful—and often in less time than it took them to raise their seed rounds.”
