The Study has been brought forward by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union; the European Investment Fund (EIF) and European Investment Bank (EIB) Advisory Services. The full Study will be launched during the third edition of the Empowering Equity event, organised by the EIF and EIB Advisory on December 5th.

The EIT conference, INNOVEIT – Pioneering women: driving innovation and investment in Europe – is an event focused on the EIT’s role and impact in boosting women-led innovation and investment across Europe. The conference is showcasing the EIT as Europe’s largest innovation community in Europe and its innovation opportunities in deeptech, women entrepreneurship, sustainability, and more.

7,165 startups founded since 2010 were analysed as part of the study using the Dealroom database (a global provider of data and intelligence on startups and tech ecosystems) across 37 European countries.

Martin Kern, EIT Director, said: “This EIT study is a call to overcome the gender gap for investment in deep tech. The percentage of total funding going to deeptech startups with women founders stands at only 11.4%. This is a missed innovation opportunity that Europe simply cannot afford. That’s exactly where the EIT comes in. Our programmes, including SUPERNOVAS, are dedicated to strengthening women-led startups, providing access to funding, access to markets and clients, mentoring, thematic expertise, all as part of a community of partners across Europe.”

Women remain underrepresented but the trend is moving upwards

Whilst women founders remain a minority, the study finds that the percentage of women over the total number of founders of deeptech startups has doubled between 2010 and 2022 (from 7% to 14%). Similarly, whilst women are less likely to start a deeptech startup on their own, the percentage of solo woman startups has been steadily increasing.

The study notes that deeptech startups with at least one woman founder are significantly larger in terms of number of people employed, and that larger founding teams are associated with higher employee growth.

The study has also found that most women-led deeptech startups launched between 2010 and 2022 come from France with 2,616 (21.0%), followed by Germany and Spain. Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Finland, and Belgium are among the following most represented. In most countries, the percentage of women deeptech founders among all founders is concentrated between 10% to 20% with the average at 17%.

Funding remains a significant challenge

According to the findings of the study, women face significant funding challenges compared with their male counterparts. On average, deeptech startups with at least one woman founder receive less total funding, less funding per round, and smaller first rounds. Women-founded deeptech startups receive significantly less funding compared to those founded by men. At the seed stage, women-led startups secure only 15% of funding, while men-led startups take the remaining 85%. For early and late-stage venture capital, women-founded startups receive just 11% of the total investment, with 89% going to men-led companies. Women also face barriers to entering deeptech compared with other fields.

The report also indicates that women in deeptech may face barriers to accessing private investment and are more likely to receive a first round from public sources. Women deeptech startups not only receive a lower first valuation than their men counterparts, but they continue to receive lower valuations throughout their startups’ growth cycle and are less likely to reach a €20 million valuation.

The only positive trend in funding is that deeptech startups with women in their founding teams receive their first funding faster than startups with all-men founding teams.

In this context, the EIT and its Knowledge and Innovation Communities have launched the Supernovas programme, bringing more women into the world of entrepreneurship and investment as well as supporting women already in it, facilitating women’s engagement in the early-stage investment industry, and igniting growth for women business angels and VC investors.

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 big-hitters in the startup ecosystem.