Women-led startups raise $4.3 bn in 2022, outperform those led by men

The number of active investors funding women-led startups has also risen steadily since 2010, with a sharp YoY jump of 42% in 2021

Women-led startups raised a total of $4.3 billion in funding during 2022, amid a global funding winter when investments across the board saw a dip. These startups had raised $4.9 billion the year before, which was a 91 per cent year-on-year increase compared to 2020, according to a report by Traxcn, a market intelligence platform.

Women-led startups have outperformed the Indian startup ecosystem generally in 2022 as per a stage-by-stage breakdown, the report said.

The share of women-led startups in the Indian tech industry exceeds 8 per cent, and among funded companies, this figure is more than 18 per cent. The number of active investors funding women-led startups has also risen steadily since 2010, with a sharp year-on-year jump of 42 per cent in 2021.

Among the cities in India, women-led startups in Bengaluru have raised the highest funding amount of $11.3 billion, followed by Delhi NCR with $5.7 billion and Mumbai with $3.5 billion.

Funding Trends Among Women-led Start-ups ($bn)
Year	Funding Amount
2017	0.9
2018	1.7
2019	1.9
2020	2.6
2021	4.9
2022	4.3
Funding Funnel for Women-led Start-ups
Stage	No. of Women-led Start-ups Reaching Mentioned Stage	% of Women-led Start-ups Reaching Mentioned Stage
Funded	2190	100%
Series A+	791	36.12%
Series B+	613	27.99%
Series C+	552	25.21%
Series D+	522	23.84%
Top 10 Women-led Start-ups

    Company Founding Year Latest Valuation ($bn) BYJU's 2011 22 Lenskart 2010 4.3 Bigbasket 2011 2.9 Infra.Market 2016 2.5 5ire 2021 1.5 Zenoti 2010 1.5 Pristyn Care 2018 1.4 Amagi 2008 1.4 The Good Glamm Group 2021 1.2 Nykaa 2012 1.2      

Top Sectors Among Women-led Start-ups

    Sector No. of Start-ups   Fashion Tech 1070   K-12 Edtech 453   Online Grocery 398   Local Services 387   HRTech 384   Food Tech 299   Healthcare Booking Platforms 285   Beauty Tech 268   Mom and Baby Care 259   Home Improvements 237        

Top Cities with Most Women-led Start-ups

    City No. of Start-ups   Delhi-NCR 2126   Bangalore 1711   Mumbai 1438   Hyderabad 451   Pune 443   Chennai 346   Kolkata 178        

Unicorn Trends Among Women-led Start-ups

    Year No. of Unicorns Created   2018 1   2019 2   2020 2   2021 5   2022 3        

Active Investors in Women-led Start-ups

    Year No. of Active Investors    2018 231   2019 273   2020 327   2021 464   2022 375        

Top Investors in Women-led Start-ups

    Company No. of Portfolio Companies   Sequoia Capital 44   LetsVenture 62   Accel 26   AngelList 59   Venture Catalysts 44