Women in tech: struggles, success, and change

Gender equality remains one of the problems in the European and global tech industries. According to the EU-funded GENDEX project, women lead just 22% of European deep tech companies. In 2024, female founders raised €10.2 billion, less than a quarter of European venture capital (VC) funding, per Pitchbook’s All In report about women in VC. The GENDEX analysis also showed how gender disparities in the sector resulted in €198.8 billion value loss over the past decade. On top of that, women in European tech generally earn 26% less money than men.

On the positive side, more women are funding tech companies. An analysis done by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) pointed out that the share of women among the total number of deep tech startup founders doubled between 2010 and 2022–from 7% to 14%. Yet, much work remains to be done to increase diversity and foster female entrepreneurship.

Providing stronger financing

“It is essential to focus on how to get cash to female-founded teams. Money is a huge driver of a startup’s success, and the truth is that many women founders don’t get funded,” underlines Nara Moripen, founder of Pal. Her personal story prompts her entrepreneurial venture. Having lost her mother to lung cancer, she found herself in the situation that many people live: taking care of someone with a life-limiting illness, without having the right tools. In 2022, she co-founded Pal with Azi Doost.

The app is a care companion, where users submit observations on the patient’s condition and receive support accordingly. The system helps address daily care challenges and fosters collaboration between family caretakers and specialists. “In many ways, it is the tool I wished I had when I was faced with questions and didn’t know how to help my mom the most,” explains Moripen.

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Female-founder focused accelerators

Mamamoon Health’s founder, Kasia Pokrop, hopes to see more women-focused accelerators in the Netherlands. “More often, as a female entrepreneur, you lack a network as sometimes you focus more on your personal life than the professional one–as you can’t do otherwise, during pregnancy, or postpartum recovery.” Besides, Pokrop calls for broader collaboration between the health tech sector players—investors, companies, and the healthcare system. “We should look and copy what the US and the UK are doing,” she adds.

Mamamoon supports women’s health through its three Ms: menstruation, motherhood, and menopause. Last year, Mamamoon launched its first app, focusing on preventing birth trauma and postpartum depression. The app provides daily support and advice at every step of the journey. Pokrop compares it to the language learning app Duolingo. By completing tasks, women can collect points to access discounts for products or book sessions with health professionals.

Changing the narrative

“A good starting point to kick off change would be to start changing the narrative about the tech sector, bringing back reality in. Entrepreneurship is about ups and downs, and I often see that only the ups are celebrated. In my opinion, being transparent about failures would make a safer environment for women to step in,” says Charlotte Melkert.

Together with her sister Fleur Melkert, she co-founded Equalture at the age of 21 after her business studies. The software company helps companies shift from CV-based hiring to competency-based hiring. The platform proposes a game-based approach to assessing skills and tracks workers' performance once hired to further refine recruitment. Equalture caters to large enterprises, such as Rituals, KPN, and DHL.

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Struggles in funding

When raising funding, female founders still find themselves confronted with stereotypes. “The combination of us being female founders and the nature of the startup has often been assumed as if we were just building something nice, but without a structured business plan. Yet, we are solving an urgent social problem,” underscores Pal’s CEO.

Mamamoon’s co-founder echoes her, as, initially, appealing to investors was tough. “I was often told that I was addressing a niche problem. How could it be a niche problem, the fact that nearly half of women experience birth trauma and a fifth of them postpartum depression? I had to change my narrative and focus on the costs we are saving.”

Rethinking VC funding

VC firms' portfolio quotas for female-founded companies are seen as a solution. Equalture’s Melkert disagrees. “It feels weird to me. I have always worked to ensure that investors talk to me because they like my business idea, not to get their quotas. I wouldn’t want to be that, and I can’t imagine anyone would be happy. The more we split, the more we keep emphasizing differences, while we should all work to make the tech environment more inclusive for all.”

Tessa de Flines, chairwoman of the non-profit organization Female Ventures, is aware of the hurdles. “Women tend to build businesses on impact-driven topics, which don’t typically match the VC model, which is very financially oriented. The large majority of the people in the VC world are men. Even though they might have female analysts or investment managers, they are still trained in the same way of thinking. The funding world should rethink how to assess impact-driven companies,” she underlines.

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Inspiring the future generations

Female Ventures empowers women in their careers by providing them with knowledge, inspiration, and a network. The organization is active in five Dutch cities, organizing workshops and events. Moreover, to change things, the non-profit is piloting a school program for girls between 12 and 18 to open their minds and expose them to the stories of women working in underrepresented sectors.

Role models are a powerful source of inspiration, but as De Flines points out, they don’t have to be widely recognized figures. “Even just by taking a step in a male-dominated sector a woman can be a role model. “A woman can be a role model simply by stepping into a male-dominated industry or starting her own company. Often, the most impactful inspirations are those just a few steps ahead—because the gap feels smaller, and the next step seems more attainable.” With any luck, that message will resonate with future generations.