Since 2018, the Female Founders Monitor has been investigating the German Startup Monitor the situation of female founders in Germany. With nearly 2,000 participants annually, the topic of startup founding and gender can be examined from diverse perspectives, and statements can also be made about the potential and challenges of female startup founders.
According to the latest Female Founders Monitor, the proportion of female founders among German startups rose from 16 to 20 percent between 2020 and 2022. This is also reflected in the team composition: 37 percent of startups now have at least one woman on their founding team. At the same time, this slow increase highlights the persistent gender imbalance. Structural barriers for women remain high in the startup ecosystem.
Female founders are more critically questioned about investment decisions than male founders
Difficulties for female founders are particularly evident when it comes to growth. Startups founded by women have significantly fewer employees, with an average of seven, compared to male teams with 28. One reason for this: the gender gap in capital.
While the female founding teams surveyed have received an average of €1.1 million to date, the financing volume among male teams is almost nine times higher at €9.7 million. More than four out of five women identify a structural problem and agree with the statement that female founders are subject to more critical scrutiny than male founders when making investment decisions. Furthermore, significantly fewer women are active as business angels. Only 6 percent of female founders invest in startups themselves, compared to 16 percent of men. Networks specifically for female investors could help improve this situation.
Reliable security necessary when starting a family
With an average age of 36, founding a business often coincides with family planning. Female founders, in particular, are often doubly challenged by family responsibilities. For example, female founders with children reduce their weekly working hours by an average of almost six hours, while this effect is barely noticeable for female founders.
This is also reflected in political demands: four out of five women see better offers for reconciling family and entrepreneurship as a key lever for strengthening the ecosystem – among men, only one in two do so.
Structural framework conditions must be changed
Franziska Teubert, Managing Director of the Startup Association, says:
"To empower female entrepreneurs in Germany and make this a viable option for more women, we need to address the structural framework. This means that female entrepreneurs also need reliable protection while starting a family. This includes maternity protection for the self-employed, more flexible parental leave, better tax deductibility of childcare costs, and the nationwide expansion of high-quality childcare services."
Women are almost twice as likely to start a business alone as men. This reflects a lack of networks and leads to further challenges, as team founders benefit from additional resources, expertise, and contacts. However, the presence of these networks has an enormous impact. For example, women's teams rate their startup ecosystem positively (82 percent) significantly more often than solo founders (47 percent). This figure is significantly higher than that of men's and mixed teams, which underscores the importance of specific Networks and initiatives in the startup sector for female founders.
