The first quarter of 2021 saw hundreds of millions of dollars invested into Portland-area startups, but the amount invested into teams of solely women was a tiny silver of the total, revealing the gap in access to capital.
According to data from the research firm PitchBook just $5.9 million of the nearly $400 million invested in the quarter went to startups with all-female founding teams. That amount was spread across five deals including rounds for Wildfang, Edify, Gabbi and Caregiven.
Software maker Edify, which had one of the larger rounds, raised more than $1 million from investors.
As a proportion of the total amount invested in the first quarter just 1.6% went to all women founding teams. For companies with at least one woman on the founding team the percentage is 7.4%. Companies that raised rounds with at least one woman on the founding team include Perfect Co., Alchemy Code Lab and Brave Care.
Portland-area companies with at least one woman on the founding team raised $27.4 million, according to PitchBook.
Looking at the deal volume on the quarter, the numbers improve. There were 44 deals in the quarter, and 13% went to all-female founding teams, according to PitchBook. For companies with one woman on the founding team is was 31% of the deals.
Mirroring broader trends, the money invested in women founders was concentrated in later-stage deals, although there was some angel and seed activity. There were zero dollars in the “early VC” stage.
Nationwide the first quarter saw $69 billion invested across 3,987 deals. Of that, $900 million across 174 deals went to companies with all-female founding teams, according to the latest Venture Monitor report from PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association.
Nationally, companies with at least one woman on the founder team raised $10 billion, across 675 deals.
The group noted that in the report that the results were optimistic for the most part and showed the overall health of the VC industry weathering the effects of the global Covid-19 pandemic. However, “not everything came up roses in the first quarter. The share of female-founded companies as a proportion of total U.S. VC deals, measured by both deal count and dollar volume, continued its downward trajectory," the report stated.
The quarterly data reflects anecdotes in the community about the challenges for women founders raising venture capital investment. The quarterly Venture Monitor does not track race or ethnicity, but challenges for women of color have been in headlines in recent years.
The widening gap of access to capital for women and people of color has led to the creation of funds aimed specifically at these communities. Here in Oregon, Elevate Capital is in the midst of raising its second fund and just secured a big investment from Bank of America. Black Founders Matter Fund is raising its first fund. Rogue Venture Partners has its own Rogue Women’s Fund. And there is also the Portland-based WomensVCFund.
