Women entrepreneurs face uphill task in startup world amid funding winter

Even as the entrepreneurial ecosystem continues to grow, the number of startups with at least one woman founder has been on the decline since at least 2020

Mumbai, unarguably the financial capital of the country, recently celebrated the entrepreneurial spirit of the city at the 'Mumbai Tech Week'. While entrepreneurial spirit was on full display at the event, there was one important point to notice. Among this motley group of founders there was only one woman founder — Naiyya Saggi of Good Glamm. 

In some ways, this under-representation of women is, ironically, representative of the Indian startup ecosystem. While the industry and the investors are likely to deny this dismal representation of women, the numbers tell a different story. 

From 2020-2025, the number of startups founded which had at least one woman as a founder is 2,432. In the past five years, the highest number of women co-founded companies was 744 in 2021, according to data from market intelligence platform Tracxn. However, since then, the number of companies founded by women has been declining every year. In 2024, only 155 companies were registered with at least one woman founder. This is down from the 2023 number of 417. 

And as the world gears up to celebrate Women’s Day on March 8, it is perhaps time to act rather than just talk about rising women entrepreneurial power. To that end, and to mark Women's Day, Arise Ventures, in association with SAP Labs India and Deloitte, has announced the launch of the 2025 Startup Studio Cohort, an initiative designed to identify, support, and accelerate high-potential, women-founded and women-led tech startups in the consumer packaged goods, retail, and government & public services sectors. 

In the past, India has seen founders such as Falguni Nayyar of Nykaa, Ghazal Alagh of Mamaearth, Upasna Taku of Mobikwik, Ruchi Kalra of OfBusiness, and Mabel Chacko of Open, who have emerged as trailblazers for women entrepreneurs across the country but, overall, the country continues to lag in this area. 

The other alarming trend is the falling amount of funding. While one reason could be the funding winter, but the fall in fund raise is disappointing. Companies with at least one woman co-founder have witnessed a significant decline in venture capital funding from its peak of $6.7 billion in 2021 to $606.8 million in 2024, according to data shared by Tracxn. In 2025, the total funding amount stands at a rather disappointing $94 million. 

Funding based on equity rounds follows a similar trajectory. The data shows that while funding was at $5 billion in 2021, it fell to $459 million in 2024, a just over 90 per cent drop. 

Reflecting on the trend, Ankita Vashistha, founder and managing partner at Arise Ventures, said, "Unfortunately, the funding percentage is still the same. On the whole, the funding itself has decreased. The quantum of amounts is therefore less. But, amazingly, women are now building across all fields. We see many more women in AI, deep tech, and biotech." 

In the past, Amazon Web Services and Lightspeed Ventures announced the AccelerateHer 2023 program to enable women founders of early-stage Indian startups to grow and scale successful technology businesses. Similarly, in 2024, Peak XV Partners announced the third cohort of its women entrepreneurs-focused Spark program, with 14 startups and 16 female founders.