In our May 24 Friday Letter we reported that fundraising numbers were not looking very good for women-led venture firms. At that time, those firms — in which at least half of the partners are women — had raised a total of just $700 million, with the bulk of that capital raised by two firms.
Now, with all of our data updated through the end the first half of the year, we are happy to report that women-led VC funds are on a similar track to previous years, even amidst the fundraising slowdown of the overall venture industry.
From January 1 to June 30, 48 women-led funds have raised a total of $1.44 billion, putting them on track to raise close to the $3 billion they raised in 2023 and 2022. Of the 48 funds, 22 represent their firm’s first foray into the market, while the remainder are mostly sophomore funds with a few outliers.
Mirroring our data roundup in May, just two firms were responsible for the majority of the capital raised in June. Engine Ventures, a multi-stage investor targeting companies across deeptech, healthcare and AI, closed its third fund at $398 million on June 17, above its target of $350 million. It is the largest fund closed by a women-led VC firm this year.
In second place is Ulu Ventures, a seed-stage investor targeting companies with diverse founding teams, which raised $190 million for its fourth fund, which was targeting $200 million.
Other women-led firms that have closed on relatively large funds this year include tech investor Seven Seven Six, which held a partial close on $187 million for its third fund, which is targeting $520 million, and early-stage investor Renegade Partners, which held a final close on $128 million for its second fund, below its initial target of $160 million.
Those four funds make up just under 63 percent of all the capital raised by women-led VC firms in 2024, with the remaining $537 million raised by 44 funds across 42 firms.
Most of the funds raised this year are fairly small. Excluding capital raised by Engine, Ulu, Seven Seven Six and Renegade, the median amount raised by the each of the other 44 funds is just $4.62 million, according to our calculations.
Lucas Venture Group and Portfolia are representative of most women-led firms that raised capital this year. Lucas, an industry-agnostic pre-seed and seed-stage investor led by Sarah Lucas, held a final close on $2.48 million for one of its legacy funds and held a partial close on $4.5 million for the second fund in its new fund family. Portfolia, a women-focused multi-stage fund led by Trish Costello, raised an additional $720,000 for its third women’s health fund and raised another $1.51 million for its debut sustainability fund.
As we move into the second half of the year, we are keeping an eye on a couple of firms that have launched debut funds but haven’t closed on any capital yet: Apprentis Ventures and Capital F.
Apprentis is targeting $25 million for its debut vehicle, which launched on June 25. The firm has not disclosed if it has raised any capital yet, and its website states “coming soon,” Based in Dover, New Hampshire, Apprentis is led by managing partner Holly Neiweem, according to a regulatory filing. Neiweem previously co-founded special situations investment firm Eight Bar Partners and served as COO and CFO of cybersecurity infrastructure platform Quantum Xchange, per her LinkedIn profile, which also notes that she is “passionate about advancing women and LGBTQ+ leaders in tech.”
Capital F is a pre-seed and seed-stage investor targeting companies with “technology that shapes women’s lives,” according to its website. The Mill Valley, California-based firm opened its debut fund targeting $30 million on June 27, per a regulatory filing, which lists Margaret Coblentz and Dawn Dobras as general partners. Capital F’s website describes Coblentz as “an investor and advisor for over 20 female co/founded companies,” and states that Dobras “holds over 30 years as a C-level executive, consumer operator, and board member,” including as CEO of Credo Beauty. They are looking to invest in US-based companies operating across the digital enablement and AI, health and wellness, digital workplace and sustainability industries.
Before we go, we have one last bit of good news to share. Our list of women-led funds now contains more than 200 individual firms. That is about twice the number that we found when we started this research project about a year ago.
We will be updating our exclusive list soon, so keep an eye out.