Thousands of socially motivated enterprises and enviro-tech start-ups are out there, developing market-based solutions that are making things better. They are all on a mission to Make Better Happen. With a founding principle to develop solutions to climate change and social injustice. (Find jobs with some of the best of them right here >>>) As one of many female-founded startup ourselves, we are part of an incredible community of women in impact, so we have a particular interest here that led us to wonder…  

How are these companies faring in terms of female leadership? What share of funding do female-founded companies receive? How do they compare to ‘regular’ start-ups?

We did a deep-dive into the data, and found that compared to ‘regular’ companies, impact companies had more female CEOs, had more female founders, and raised more funding rounds. However, they still raise less investment dollars than ‘regular’ companies.

Methodology

Our analysis was based on a sample of 582 impact companies. We compared that data against gender-specific datasets produced by Crunchbase, to understand the differences in female leadership and investment in female-led companies in the impact space vs general startups

Summary.

Impact companies have 3.7 more female CEOs than FTSE100 companies. That’s 271% more impact companies than regular companies with female CEOs. Putting impact companies 82 years ahead of FTSE100s at current rates.

There are 42% more female co-founded impact companies than regular companies.

Female co-founded impact companies have raised 32% more funding rounds than regular female co-founded companies with at least one female founder.

Despite raising more rounds, impact companies with at least one female co-founder still received 50% less investment dollars than regular companies with at least one female co-founder.

Female-led impact startups

Over 26% of impact companies have a female CEO. In comparison, only 5% of FTSE 100 CEOs in 2020 are women. Since 2012, this number has increased by one; from four to five.

At this rate of growth, there will be 26 FTSE100 female CEOs in the year 2102. Impact companies are 82 years ahead of FTSE100 companies in terms of female CEOs.

Female co-founded impact companies

In the last five years, an average of 19% of founded companies had at least one female founder. In comparison, 27% of impact companies have one or more female founders.

Rounds raised by female co-founded impact startups

19% of funding rounds raised by regular companies were raised by companies with at least one female co-founder.

• 6% of rounds were raised by female only founders
• 13% were raised by female/male co-founders

When looking only at impact companies, 25% of funding rounds were raised by companies with at least one female co-founder

• 9% of rounds were raised by female only founders
• 16% were raised by female/male co-founders

$$$ invested in female co-founded impact companies

12% of invested dollars were received by regular companies with at least one female co-founder

• 3% of dollars were raised by female only founders
• 9% were raised by female/male co-founders

Only 8% of invested dollars were received by impact companies with at least one female co-founder

• 2% of dollars were raised by female only founders
• 6% were raised by female/male co-founders