Since 2018, the Female Founders Monitor has been examining the situation of female founders in Germany based on survey data from the German Startup Monitor. With nearly 2,000 participants annually, the topic of startup founding and gender can be illuminated from various perspectives, and statements can be made about the potential and challenges facing female startup founders.
According to the latest Female Founders Monitor, the share of female founders among German startups has risen from 16 to 20 percent between 2020 and 2022. This is also reflected in team composition: 37 percent of startups now have at least one woman on the founding team. At the same time, the slow increase reveals the persistent gender imbalance. Structural barriers remain high for women in the startup ecosystem.
Female founders questioned more critically in investment decisions than male founders
Difficulties for female founders become particularly visible when it comes to growth. Startups founded by women have an average of 7 employees, significantly fewer than male teams with 28. One reason for this is the gender gap in capital.
While the surveyed female founding teams have received an average of 1.1 million euros so far, the financing volume among male teams is 9.7 million euros – almost nine times higher. More than four out of five women identify a structural problem and agree with the statement that female founders are questioned more critically in investment decisions than male founders. 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 during family planning necessary
With an average age of 36 years, founding also often coincides with the phase of family planning. Female founders in particular face double demands due to family responsibilities. For example, the weekly working hours of female founders with children drop by an average of almost 6 hours, while this effect is hardly noticeable for male founders.
This is also reflected in political demands: four out of five women see better offerings for reconciling family and entrepreneurship as a central lever for strengthening the ecosystem – among men, only one in two sees it that way.
Structural framework conditions must be changed
Franziska Teubert, CEO of the Startup Association, comments:
“To strengthen female founders in Germany and make this path a real option for more women, we need to address the structural framework conditions. This means: female founders also need reliable security during family planning. This includes maternity protection for the self-employed, more flexible parental leave, better tax deductibility of childcare costs, and nationwide expansion of quality childcare offerings.”
Compared to men, women found startups almost twice as often as solo founders. This reflects missing networks and leads to further challenges, as team founding benefits from additional resources, expertise, and contacts. But when these networks do exist, they have an enormous impact. For example, female teams rate their startup ecosystem positively 82 percent of the time, significantly more often than solo female founders (47 percent). The value is clearly above that of male and mixed teams, which underscores how important specific networks and initiatives in the startup sector are for female founders.
