10 European funding vehicles dedicated to woman founders

In 2024, only 0.5% of venture capital funding in Europe went to companies founded exclusively by women, according to PitchBook. Recognizing this disparity, European venture capital funds are increasingly dedicating their investment strategies to women founders and diverse founding teams. Here are ten European funds explicitly focusing on these areas:

1. Arāya Ventures and Sie Ventures (London, UK) - The Arāya Sie Fund invests in pre-Seed and Seed-stage technology startups across the UK and Europe, with a goal of supporting women-led businesses in AI, DeepTech, FinTech, healthcare, and sustainability. While there's no strict minimum female-founder equity, the team must be at least one woman, and the startup must have a tech-enabled product or service.

2. Auxxo (Berlin, Germany) - Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund exclusively invests in European startups with at least one female founder holding 20% of the shares. The fund prioritizes sector-agnostic pre-Seed and Seed-stage companies, emphasizing women's ownership, participation, and fair treatment in the venture capital ecosystem. The fund recently raised €33.3 million in its second fund, exceeding expectations by over 75%.

3. Borski Fund (Amsterdam, Netherlands) - This fund combines women entrepreneurship with broader gender diversity requirements. To qualify, companies must have at least 30% of founder shares held by female founders and co-founders. While male-led teams can qualify if they're developing FemTech innovations to address the gender health gap, Borski's eligibility framework goes beyond women-only models by requiring gender diversity within the broader team.

4. CapitalT (Amsterdam, Netherlands) - CapitalT is a women-led venture capital firm that incorporates measures to reduce bias and increase access to its investment process. While it doesn't publicly specify a minimum female-founder ownership threshold, the firm reports that 84% of its portfolio companies have at least one female, BIPOC, or LGBTQ+ founder. CapitalT doesn't have a diversity mandate but seeks out strong founders from diverse backgrounds within a broader approach to investing.

5. Fund F (Vienna, Austria) - Fund F focuses on pre-Seed and Seed-stage technology startups with at least one woman co-founder, investing up to €600k per company. The fund's strategy is sector-agnostic, with a particular emphasis on scalable digital businesses in climate, health, and FinTech. The presence of a woman co-founder is a fundamental requirement for investment.

6. Impact Shakers (Brussels, Belgium) - Combining impact investing with a strong emphasis on diverse founders, including women, Impact Shakers backs diverse-founded teams and has a particular focus on women. The firm runs women-founder programs and highlights women-led businesses in areas such as climate and impact technology. While not applying a single women-equity threshold, Impact Shakers incorporates women founders into a broader impact and diversity strategy.