Female Foundry's Female Innovation Index 2025 Highlights Women-Led Innovation in Europe

• Launch of the Female Innovation Index 2025 by Female Foundry
• Europe’s largest report on innovation and funding driven by female entrepreneurs
• partnership with 35 plus private equity and venture associations

Europe’s Female Innovation Index 2025 was recently launched by Female Foundry. This Index is Europe’s largest report on innovation and funding driven by female entrepreneurs, developed in partnership with over thirty-five private equity and venture associations, as well as key players in the European venture ecosystem across twenty countries.

The 2025 edition offers over 150 insights into Europe's female innovation landscape. Despite funding gaps, female founders are embracing AI and tackling major challenges. In 2024, 1,196 female-founded startups raised €5.76 billion across 1,305 deals, a 12 percent decrease from 2023, reflecting the broader 11 percent drop in European venture capital funding.

Female-led innovation in deeptech presents a significant opportunity for investment, with 33 percent of all venture capital raised by female entrepreneurs in Europe directed toward deeptech startups two percent more than gender-neutral startups. Key areas of innovation include synthetic biology, generative AI, and drug development.

Agata Nowicka, Founder of Female Foundry and author of the report, said “We are in an extraordinary era, where innovation is rapidly advancing and AI is reshaping how we live, work, interact, and envision the future. Female founders across Europe are seizing the opportunities AI offers to address the world’s biggest challenges, with deep-tech emerging as a key area for female-driven innovation in Europe.”

The €5.76 billion raised by female founder’s accounts for 12 percent of the total venture capital raised by startups of all genders in 2024. Health, fintech, and food sectors continue to receive the most venture capital investment for female-founded companies. Female founders are particularly successful at the Seed stage, with funding rounds for female-led startups growing larger.

The deep tech sector offers a significant opportunity for increased investment in female-led innovation. In 2024, 33 percent of all venture capital raised by female entrepreneurs in Europe went to deeptech startups, 2 percent more than gender-neutral startups. Of the 50 largest financing rounds raised by female founders in 2024, 81 percent were secured by those with scientific backgrounds.

The top-funded deep tech areas for female-founded companies in 2024 were:

• Synthetic biology (€282.4 million)
• Generative AI (€221.8 million)
• Drug development (€169.9 million)

UK-based Raspberry Pi, Bulgaria’s Boleron, and Sweden’s Big Akwa successfully went public through IPOs, a notable increase from only one IPO last year.