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Female founders shortchanged by climate tech investors again in 2024

Studies find female-led companies are more profitable than their male counterparts despite not having received anywhere near the level of investment that those led by men, or by men and women together, do. Read More

(Updated on January 17, 2025)
Female founders in climate tech once again got way less in investments than joint female-male-owned startups. Source: Trellis illustration/Sophia Davirro

Of the $33.5 billion invested in climate tech startups in the United States through three quarters in 2024, only $135.8 million went to female-founded startups. The disparity between U.S. climate tech funding for companies with at least one male founder and companies with only female founders was once again enormous, following trends set in previous years, according to 2024 data sent to Trellis from Pitchbook.

The Pitchbook data suggests little will change for female entrepreneurs in climate tech when the fourth quarter numbers are released.

The data from Pitchbook for three quarters showed that mixed-gender funding teams closed 159 deals, representing around $2.45 billion in funding, compared to exclusively female-led companies closing just 31 deals receiving $135.8 million in funding. This is a drop from 2023’s numbers (including all four quarters), which had a total deal count of 71 and deal value of $282.9 million for female-led startups. But neither year’s numbers are particularly impressive.

Read more about climate tech investing in 2024

This phenomena isn’t exclusive to climate tech. Pitchbook’s general 2024 U.S. investing data also demonstrates similar patterns, with female-only founded teams receiving 816 total deals for around $3.76 billion, compared to mixed-gender funding teams notching 2,307 deals with nearly roughly $42 billion in funding. The takeaway message is that women need a male partner to increase their chances of receiving funding across the board.

Female-led companies are the most profitable

While the trend to underinvest in women working independently of a man is nothing new, it doesn’t make financial sense for prospective investors.

Boston Consulting Group found that female-founded startups are a better investment, returning 78 cents for every dollar funded compared to male-founded startups returning just 31 cents. A Catalyst study found that once a company is off the ground, those with higher proportions of women in leadership positions had a 34 percent higher return on equity and 42 percent higher return on invested capital than counterparts with minimal to no women in those same positions. And a 2022 Pitchbook report found that female-founded startups exit faster, on average, than male-founded startups.

While external factors such as world politics and economics absolutely affect the overall health of venture capital landscape, investment in female-founders continues to creep along at woefully low numbers year to year. Yet it is not due to lack of capital. PWC‘s 2024 State of Climate Tech Report found that large, non-finance companies have continuously made roughly one-quarter of all climate tech investments since 2019.

With a growing number of nation’s mandating corporate emission disclosures, companies seeking a solution to reduce impact of long-running supply chains are particularly open to funding startups that can do the job, according to the PWC report. If anything, this should increase space within the marketplace for female-funded companies.

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