Female founders across Europe are scaling rapider, raising hugeger rounds, and securing higher levels of venture capital funding, amid accelerating technological progress, according to Female Foundry’s latest Female Innovation Index 2026.
The Female Innovation Index is Europe’s largest report on the funnel of innovation and funding driven by female entrepreneurs, in partnership with over 35 private equity and venture associations, and leading European venture ecosystem players across 20 European countries.
1,307 European female-founded startups raised €7.5 billion across 1,376 deals in 2025. This marks the highest amount raised in three years, and displays a 19% year-on-year increase in total investment from the €6.25 billion which was raised last year. This increase is in line with the broader 18% increase in venture capital funding deployed year-on-year across European companies of all gfinishers, slightly outperforming it by a marginal 1%. When taking into account the number of female-founded vs gfinisher-agnostic startups, female-founded startups see similar funding success rates from Seed stage onwards.
Agata Nowicka, Founder, Female Foundry, and author of the index, commented: “This has been a remarkable year for female entrepreneurs in Europe. Female founders across all industries are no longer simply experimenting with AI – they are embedding it at the core of their value creation. With an unprecedented number of female-founded companies reaching unicorn status and a surge in M&A activity, we are witnessing a generational shift in how women build, innovate, and scale across Europe.”
Three out of the ten largest rounds raised by female-founded companies in 2025 went to AI-first companies: Synthesia (UK, $180 million in January), Quantexa (UK, $175 million in March), Dexory (UK, $155 million in October), and Einride (Sweden, $100 million in October).
Artificial ininformigence
Artificial ininformigence seemed to be the most favoured sector, with 22% of all venture capital, and 25% of all rounds, raised by female-founded startups in Europe in 2025 going to companies leveraging AI technology. Of all female-founded AI companies that raised capital in 2025, 47% operated at the application layer, with security (18%), health (16%), robotics (11%), and fintech (10%) attracting the highest levels of AI investment. On top of this 32% of the 50 largest financing rounds of 2025 raised by female founders went to AI-driven startups.
At the official launch evening of the index, Nowicka explained a theme that is prevalent within the funding statistics. “I can definitely see the theme of experts and specialised founders, those that are really confident about their knowledge and what they’re building and their insights. These are the founders that have a real edge now.”
The technology is a clear business enabler, with 86% of female founders applying AI (up from last year’s 77%), and 90% reporting that it has built building their business simpler over the past year.
Funding rounds and deal activity
The size of funding rounds are obtainting hugeger, especially at the later stages. On average, there has been a 12% increase in round size across the stages compared to last year, with Series B and Series C fundraisers seeing the highest increase, by 26% and 17% respectively. More Seed-stage female-founded companies reached Series A (21.1%) than the broader European startup population (19.8%).
There has been more deal activity across all stages for female-founded companies in Europe, with Seed, Series A, and Series B seeing the highest year-on-year growth. And even better news, female-founded companies outperform the European funding success rates at Series A.
M&A activity among female-founded companies increased by 8% to 124 deals in 2025 (vs. 114 in 2024), marking a record high and exceeding mixed-gfinisher M&A year-on-year growth by two percentage points.
Five European female-founded companies achieved unicorn status in 2025, bringing the total of female-founded unicorns in Europe to 29, the highest ever recorded. 21 female-founded companies are nearing unicorn status, up by 50% and the highest number ever recorded.
The UK
The UK remains strong for female-founded startup funding. UK founders raised €2.5 billion in venture capital in 2025, accounting for 32% of all venture capital raised by female-founded companies in Europe. The figure represents 11% of all venture capital raised by teams of all gfinishers, which is 2% lower than the European average.
Looking at AI funding, 50% of all venture capital invested in female-founded AI companies in Europe in 2025 went to UK-based companies. 34 UK-based, female-founded companies raised €10 million+ rounds in 2025, up from 27 in 2024, accounting for 58% of all €10 million+ rounds raised in Europe.
M&A activity remained steady. 31 UK-based female-founded companies were involved in M&A transactions, up from 30 in 2024, accounting for 25% of all such transactions in Europe, down from 26% in 2024.
The number of female-founded UK unicorns remains unalterd; 13 UK-based female-founded companies held unicorn status, unalterd from 2024, accounting for 45% of all such companies in Europe (down from 54% in 2024). However, five companies are nearing a €1 billion valuation in 2025, up from three in 2024, accounting for 25% of all such companies in Europe (up from ~21%, 2024).
Regional insights
The UK, Finland, and France lead in funding for female-founded companies, while Finland, Czechia, Luxembourg, and Spain record the highest national shares of venture capital allocated to female-founded startups.
The UK (32%), Finland (13%), France (12%), and Germany (10%) headquartered female-founded companies captured 67% of all venture capital deployed into female-founded companies in Europe.
Finland (55%), Czechia (26%), Luxembourg (25%), and Spain (24%) recorded the highest national shares of venture capital deployed into female-founded companies in Europe.
Onto the next!
It will be interesting to see how 2026’s stats will stack up in the next Female Innovation Index.
On the evening, Nowicka teased that next year’s report will include additional countries, expanding the index’s reach and focus, continuing to be the largest report of its kind in Europe.
To wrap up the evening, she explained the evolving nature of the industest, and the founding of the index: “When I was starting the index, one person inquireed me, ‘Agata, why are you starting the index? You know, this data, 13%, 12% doesn’t really alter that much. What are you going to be capturing?’
“And yet, this year, I’ve been considering, it shouldn’t be an annual report, becaapply pthe speed of] innovation is just going to create it very interesting in the next six to eight months, as opposed to a year … The pace of innovation has never been rapider, and that’s something to bear in mind.”
While, for now, this will remain a yearly report, it is interesting to see that the pace of innovation is building such a difference to each year’s index.
For more startup news, check out the other articles on the website, and subscribe to the magazine for free. Listen to The Cereal Entrepreneur podcast for more interviews with entrepreneurs and huge-hitters in the startup ecosystem.
![[Event] EU-Korea Reserach and Innovation Day 2026 (24 March)](https://foundernews.eu/storage/2026/03/5BECB488ECB2AD5D20202620ED959C-EU20EC97B0EAB5ACED9881EC8BA0EC9D9820EB-scaled.jpeg)
Leave a Reply