Who are the women pushing venture capital towards 50-50?
Winning Together. The quickest pathway to gender equity in venture capital is mixed gender funds. Mixed gender funds have doubled as a percentage of emerging funds in two years and were more successful at fundraising as well. They were 1.2x more likely to reach a first close than all-male funds, and 1.3x more likely than all-female funds.
Focus and Specialization. Female-only funds are more likely to specialize in one sector; top focus areas include healthcare, diversity, and impact investing.
Ready Enough. Emerging female VCs are refusing to compromise on theses or “pay their dues”: Female-only funds tend to have younger general partners and are more likely to start a fund on their own compared to men.
Women Supporting Women. Emerging female VCs are creating an entire startup ecosystem where women support women. Not only are they funding more female founders, they are bringing high net worth female colleagues in as first time limited partners. All-female funds are backed by an average of 31% female LPs. That’s 1.4x more than mixed-gender funds and 2.8x more than all-male funds.
Diversity across emerging VC funds is gaining momentum as more women take on influential roles shaping the future of the industry. From launching new funds as general partners to actively allocating capital as limited partners, women are helping broaden access, challenge norms, and strengthen the foundation of emerging VC.
There is still a long way to go before the industry reaches the optimal 50–50 split, but at the emerging manager end of the ecosystem, gains in parity are happening much faster than at large funds, according to Decile Group’s first Women in Emerging VC study.
In recent years, multiple sources have estimated that women hold just 17–18% of checkwriting roles at VC firms. For instance, PitchBook reported that in 2023, women made up 18% of decision-makers at U.S.-based VC firms with funds smaller than $50MM. In contrast, among U.S. VC firms launched through Decile Group’s VC Lab accelerator that same year, 25% of the general partners were women— 1.4–1.5x above the broader market. In 2024, 31% of funds that successfully completed VC Lab had a female general partner— nearly twice the latest market estimates for funds under $50MM.
When it comes to strides in gender parity, most of the momentum is coming from the growth of mixed-gender funds, which has doubled as a proportion of all funds over the past three years. The share of women LPs has also grown steadily each year since 2022.
Alongside these gains in representation, fundraising outcomes are also strong across gender compositions. All-female and mixed-gender teams perform at least on par— and in some cases better— than all-male peers across key fundraising metrics.
This article draws on data from 600+ VC Lab alumni funds and 8,000+ LPs on Decile Hub to explore gender trends in fund leadership, fundraising performance, sector strategy, and LP behavior— offering an up-to-date look at how gender dynamics are evolving across the emerging VC landscape.
Decile Group’s VC Lab accelerator launches roughly 60% of all emerging venture funds worldwide, with an average fund size of $10.5MM. Our data offers a unique lens into the state of emerging managers and sub-$50MM VC funds.
Fund Leadership
Gender diversity in fund leadership is improving, driven in part by the growing presence of mixed-gender teams. These teams have become an increasingly common pathway for expanding inclusion, especially as the proportion of all-female funds has remained relatively steady.
Mixed-Gender Teams Are on the Rise
The proportion of mixed-gender funds among emerging funds has nearly doubled between 2022 and 2024, growing from 9% to 17%. Meanwhile, the share of all-female funds has remained steady at 14–16%. The combined 31% of women-led funds in 2024 is a sharp 3.9x increase from the 8% reported by Women in VC in Q4 of 2020. This trend suggests that collaborative leadership models are playing an important role in improving gender representation. As more women break into fund management, mixed-gender teams may offer a scalable path to increasing female leadership without relying solely on all-female formations.
Female GPs Are More Likely to Launch Solo
Mixed-gender funds, by definition, are team-led, which makes their rise a clear signal of collaborative leadership. Meanwhile, 77% of all-female funds are solo-led, compared to 67% of all-male funds.
This pattern may reflect a preference for autonomy among all-female funds, the flexibility to move quickly on opportunities, or the desire to establish a distinct leadership voice. Solo launches can also be a way for women GPs to fully realize a thesis without compromise, especially in a first-time fund.
Women-Led Funds Tend To Be Younger
Most GPs fall within the 40–50 age range— accounting for 48% of all-female funds, 46% of mixed-gender teams, and 41% of all-male teams. Mixed-gender teams include the largest share of GPs aged 30–40 (34%), while all-male funds have the highest share of GPs over 50 (27%).
These patterns show that female GPs are more frequently found in younger, all-female or mixed gender fund structures, while all-male funds show a stronger concentration of older GPs— possibly reflecting women’s growing openness to entering VC earlier, and men’s preference for more traditional career timelines and later entry points.
Sector and Stage Focus
Fund strategies show meaningful differences by gender. Female-led funds tend to specialize and lean toward impact-driven sectors, while male-led funds remain more generalist and earlier stage.
Women Prioritize Seed Stage Investing
All-female funds focus on seed-stage investments 1.2x more than all-male funds, with 75% of them targeting seed compared to 64% of male-led funds.
This may reflect that all-female funds prefer investing at early, yet post-ideation stages— where startups have achieved initial product-market fit or traction. Seed-stage investing allows them to align with validated opportunities that fit clearly defined investment theses.
Men Spearhead Pre-Seed Stage Investing
Pre-seed investing is most prevalent among all-male funds, with 28% of them focusing on this stage— 1.4x more than all-female funds and 1.8x more than mixed-gender funds.
This could indicate a greater appetite among male-led teams for high-risk, high-reward opportunities where proof of concept is limited. Their higher focus on pre-seed may reflect a willingness to invest before traction or market validation, often relying on bold visions and founder conviction.
All-female funds lead in focus on diversity (22%), healthcare (11%), and impact (10%), and are 1.3x more likely than all-male funds to focus on a single sector. Male-led funds are more likely to adopt generalist strategies (17%) and show stronger representation in AI, fintech, and software.
Women-led funds may gravitate toward sectors like diversity, healthcare, and impact due to personal and professional experiences that align with social outcomes, representation, and care-oriented innovation. Their tendency to focus on one sector may reflect a deliberate strategy to build depth, differentiate their thesis, and establish credibility within a specific domain.
Fundraising Performance
Gender-balanced teams perform competitively across key fundraising indicators. While all-male funds still represent a large share of capital raised, mixed-gender and all-female funds show strong results in both absolute and relative performance metrics.
Mixed-Gender Funds Are More Likely to Close
Within comparable timeframes, mixed-gender funds are 1.2x more likely to reach a first close than all-male funds, and 1.3x more likely than all-female funds.
This suggests that mixed-gender teams are especially effective at reaching critical fundraising milestones, reflecting early momentum and strong LP interest.
Closed Amounts Are Similar Across All Fund Types
Within comparable timeframes, mixed-gender funds and all-male funds report nearly identical average first close amounts— $6.2MM and $6.3MM, respectively— while all-female funds trail only slightly at $5.6MM.
This similarity in average capital raised points to parity in fundraising capacity across team types, especially when factoring in differences in fund targets.
All-Female Funds Have an Edge in Achieving Targets
All-female funds have an average target size of $9MM— about 0.9x that of all-male funds ($10MM) and 0.7x that of mixed-gender funds ($12.5MM). Despite these smaller targets, all-female funds close similar proportions of their goals compared to all-male funds and even 1.1x more than mixed-gender funds.
Our data clearly shows that at the emerging fund level, women are at least equally as efficient in achieving their fundraising objectives and particularly strong at setting realistic, attainable targets. Their ability to perform on par— or better— highlights clear strategic planning, strong LP alignment, and focused execution that resonates with today’s fundraising environment in emerging VC.
LP Behavior
Female LPs continue to grow in number and show commitment behaviors largely on par with their male counterparts, while their preference for relatively smaller check sizes aligns well with the growing accessibility of venture capital.
Female LP Representation Is Increasing
The proportion of female LPs has increased 1.6x from 13% in 2021 to 21% in 2025, with 2–4% year-over-year growth since 2022.
This steady trend signals a widening investor base and more balanced capital participation, creating opportunities for new fund managers to engage a broader and more inclusive pool of LPs.
Female LPs Sign Leaner Checks
Female LPs are 1.8x more likely than male LPs to invest < $50K, and their average check size ($140K) is 1.3x smaller compared to male LPs ($180K).
These figures align with broader market trends identified in Decile Group’s research article on Shifting LP Commitments, which found that almost 75% of checks in emerging VC fall below $150K. Particularly now, female LPs are well-positioned to benefit from this shift toward accessibility.
Female and Male LPs Sign LPAs at Similar Rates
On average, female and male LPs convert 75–80% of soft commitments into LPAs, finalize 94–99% of committed values, and do so within similar timelines (12–14 weeks).
This parity in behavior reinforces the reliability of female LPs as partners in emerging fund formation and dispels false assumptions around commitment risk or execution.
Female GPs Attract More Female LPs
All-female funds work with an average of 31% female LPs— 1.4x more than mixed-gender funds and 2.8x more than all-male funds.
The data shows that female GPs tend to attract significantly more female LPs, suggesting that gender diversity on the GP side may encourage more women to invest, thereby driving broader inclusion across both sides of the capital table.
Key Takeaways
Gender representation across emerging VC funds is improving across both VC leadership and LP participation, though there is still significant ground to cover. On the LP side, women are entering the asset class at faster rates and show reliable behavior, particularly at lower commitment levels that align with the broader shift toward accessibility in emerging VC.
On the VC side, women-led funds are becoming more common and demonstrate high efficiency across several key performance indicators. They are also more likely to specialize in specific sectors, prioritize seed-stage investments, and build lean, mission-driven firms.
For emerging managers, improving gender balance requires active, intentional choices across leadership and capital strategy. While positive trends are taking shape, the path to parity depends on how new funds are built today.
Key priorities include:
Build inclusive leadership teams early. Mixed-gender funds are more likely to reach a first close and raise similar amounts to all-male funds, showing strong early momentum.
Support and elevate solo female GPs. With 77% of all-female funds solo-led, operational and network support can help expand representation.
Use representation to activate participation. All-female funds work with 2.8x more female LPs, reinforcing the value of diverse leadership in attracting inclusive capital.
Promote and encourage sector specialization. Women-led funds succeed with clear, mission-driven theses— specialization can differentiate and clarify positioning.
Design fund strategies that resonate with diverse LPs. Female LPs are growing in number and prefer smaller check sizes that align with trends in emerging VC.
The venture capital ecosystem is evolving, and emerging managers are well-positioned to lead the next wave of inclusive, high-performing funds.
VC Lab, the leading venture capital accelerator, empowers new and emerging managers worldwide to close ethical, high-performing funds in under six months. The program provides cutting-edge tools, expert mentorship, and a global network to raise more money in less time. Apply if you want to build a meaningful venture capital firm.
