Despite a wide gap between the amount of venture capital invested in all-male founding teams compared with the amount invested in teams with women and all-female teams, growth in deal activity shows more receptiveness to female founders in recent years, said data firm Pitchbook in its latest report, .

Published on 7 March 2024--just ahead of International Women’s Day--the report covers deal count and deal value for female-founded companies that have at least one female founder (and may also have male founders), all-female-founded companies (a subsection of the first category) and all-male-founded companies. Luxembourg is among the top 15 countries by 2023 deal value and among the top 20 in terms of deal count for female-founded companies.

Here are a few takeaways from the report.

25.8% of VC deal count

In 2023, female-founded companies accounted for 25.8% of European VC deal count (up from 25.2% in 2022) and 20.9% of VC deal value (up from 15.1% in 2022). Those figures are “record high” proportions, noted the report.

But male-dominated companies still dominate--by far

“Data reveals that venture dealmaking varies significantly when broken down by founder gender, with female-founded companies collectively receiving far less investment than male-founded companies,” said Pitchbook analyst Annemarie Donegan in the report.

Deal value for companies founded by an all-male team was far higher than for companies founded by an all-female team or that had at least one female founder. All male-founded companies saw €38.54bn of deal value in 2023, compared to €10.06bn for companies with at least one female founder and €680m for all female-founded companies.

Companies founded by an all-male team see much higher deal count than companies founded by an all-female team or a team with at least one female founder.

In 2023, deal count for all male-founded companies stood at 6,175. While this is down compared to 2022 (8,930), it’s still nearly three times higher than for companies with at least one female founder (2,177) and over 13 times higher when compared to the deal count for all female-founded companies (451).

“All-female-founded companies remain a comparatively small part of the European VC ecosystem, but the population has seen significant growth and consistency over the past several years with at least 400 deals closed each year since 2018,” Donegan noted in the report.

Five deals with at least one female founder in Luxembourg

Since 2010, the United Kingdom has had the highest VC deal count in terms of companies with at least one female founder. In 2023, the UK saw 726 deals for companies with at least one female founder; France, in second place, saw 276.

Luxembourg saw five deals involving companies with at least one female founder in 2023. But this figure has grown over the years, said Pitchbook data.

In 2023, VC deal value for companies with at least one female founder stood at €92m in Luxembourg.

Only 15% of decision-makers are women

At the general partner (GP) level, made up of decision-makers like partners, principals and managing directors, VC firms in Europe remain “heavily male-dominated.” Among larger firms with assets under management of at least €50m, only 15.2% of all decision-makers are women, said the report. That means the rest--84.8%--of decision-makers are men.

However, firms in the healthcare services & systems sector saw women make up 22.6% of decision-makers, while the healthcare devices & supplies industry saw women make up 25% of decision-makers.

Among smaller VC firms (those with assets under management below €50m), the percentage of female decision-makers drops to 11.4%, said Donegan. “The gender breakdown of the individuals writing checks for founders offers an understanding of the other side of venture transactions. The presence of female decision-makers could open doors for female founders by offering a diversified perspective on market opportunities that may otherwise be overlooked.”

Find the full report .