Only one in five German start-ups founded by women

A new study reveals the deficits and differences in the start-up scene.

The German Start-up Association published the Female Founders Monitor 2022 on Tuesday, showing little change in the German start-up market, as the Handelsblatt reports. Startups founded by women still have fewer employees, receive less funding and generally exist less than startups founded by men. Overall, the share is only one-fifth.

This represents an increase of four percentage points since 2020. The study also shows that female founders raise venture capital less frequently and less often. Women rely more on equity and bank loans. Their start-ups thus achieve an average financing volume of 1.1 million euros. For men, the figure is 9.7 million.

The Female Founders Monitor also states that four out of five women surveyed believe that they are scrutinized more critically than male founders when it comes to investment decisions. Fewer women are also active on the investor side. 16 percent of men are active as business angels, while only six percent of female founders invest in startups themselves.