Funding gap continues: Here's how female tech founders in Florida fared in 2023

The venture capital funding gap between female and male-founded technology companies was substantial in 2023, according to PitchBook.

In the U.S., technology companies with all-women founding teams secured $3.2 billion from venture capital investors, compared to $114.8 billion directed to all-male founding teams. Businesses with mixed-gender leadership, also described as female-founded by PitchBook, raised $44.7 billion.

Companies started solely by women scored only 2% of venture capital in 2023, a figure that has barely increased since 2008.

The data demonstrates that U.S. startups led by women are far more likely to attract venture capital dollars if they have a man on their founding team.

Despite an inhospitable funding climate in the overall industry, businesses with at least one female co-founder generated a record-high proportion of total venture capital deal value at 27.8%. However, the main force behind the increase was OpenAI's $10 billion raise during the first quarter of the year.

"The company presents an outlier in terms of the sheer size of the round and its female founder left the company prior to this round," PitchBook reports.

Excluding the OpenAI deal, startups with at least one woman founder secured 22.8% of VC deal value.

Deal counts for female founders declined 25% between 2022 and 2023, a sign that venture capitalists are investing in fewer companies.

How much are women raising in Florida?

Nationally, the San Francisco Bay area – home to OpenAI – was the strongest market for women founders when analyzed by VC deal values. Thirty-eight percent of deal value went to businesses with female leadership, up from 20% in 2022. Chicago (27.3% of deal value) and New York City (26.6%) were also among the markets where female founders secured the most funding.

According to PitchBook's U.S. VC Female Founders Dashboard, businesses with female co-founders in Florida raised $309 million over 116 deals in 2023, with about one-third of that directed to businesses with all-women leadership. Startups in the Miami metro area raised $143 million across 74 deals, including $40 million across 19 deals for all-women teams.

Exits for U.S. female founders declined for the second year in a row and hit its lowest value since 2016.

However, "although fewer companies exited in 2023 overall, female-founded companies accounted for a larger share of those that did," Pitchbook reports.

Female-led companies typically find a buyer faster, as well: The median time to exit for women-founded firms is 6.7 years, compared to 7.5 years for the broader population.

Billion dollar companies

The cumulative number of female-founded "unicorns," a term for companies that achieve a valuation of $1 billion or more, grew 4.7% in 2023. All but two of the Top 10 unicorns by valuation are based in the San Francisco Bay area. They are:

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