More exits, fewer funding rounds.
That was the main takeaways from new data released from Pitchbook this week that looked at how female-founded startups fared over the rather sluggish year for investments in 2024.
What The Numbers Say
$38.8 billion
That’s how much female founders collectively raised in 2024, up 27% YoY
13.1%
The YoY drop off of funding awarded to women last year as a share of all check deployed
25.1%
Nationally, female-founded companies received 25.1% of all VC
24.3%
VC exit activity for female-founded companies as a share of all VC exit activity, a four-year high
Why is that exit number interesting? Female-founded companies typically raise less than 3% of all VC funding in any given year. Despite this, female founders are finding ways to grow their businesses into scalable businesses that can be acquired or IPO.
But What About The Southeast?
Hypepotamus looked at the state-by-state numbers also published this week in Pitchbook’s US VC female founders dashboard, a new way for investors and the startup community to keep up with female-founded startups across the country.
While the Southeast region largely followed the national trends when it comes to trends in VC dollars, it is worth taking a look at what is going on at the state level:
This chart, created from a Hypepotamus analysis of Pitchbook data, illustrates the percentage of female-founded deals out of total venture capital deals done in each state last year. Louisiana had the highest percentage by significant margin, with nearly half (48.39%) of its deals involving female-led startups. Georgia and Alabama also show relatively strong representation at 28.29% and 27.10%, respectively. In contrast, South Carolina and Mississippi lag behind, with female-founded deals making up just 19.86% and 20.00% of total deals, respectively, which is lower than the national average.
While some states show encouraging progress, the overall distribution highlights ongoing disparities in funding accessibility for female founders across the region.