Women Startup Founders Receive Six Percent of New Zealand Venture Capital

Women-only startup founders in New Zealand received less than six cents of every venture capital dollar invested in 2025, despite a dramatic increase in absolute funding that masks a persistent gap in how investors value companies led by women.

Women-only founding teams attracted $14.75 million in disclosed venture capital investment last year, more than triple the $4.59 million raised the previous year. That achievement pushed their share of total disclosed capital from 2.9 percent to 5.94 percent. Yet male-only founding teams captured $172.35 million, or 69.42 percent of disclosed capital, while mixed-gender teams received $61.17 million, or 24.64 percent, according to data from the Aotearoa Centre for Enterprising Women at the University of Auckland Business School.

The numbers reveal a structural problem that raw growth figures cannot explain. Women-only teams accounted for roughly 12 percent of all startup deals but received about 6 percent of the money, meaning they attracted half the funding per deal compared to other founders. “Which is great when it’s doubled, but it’s not really meaningful enough yet to get excited about,” said Jenny Rudd, Gender Investment Gap co-founder.

How Women Founders Build Stronger Positions Before Raising

Hannah Hardy-Jones, co-founder of Contented, raised $4.1 million in 2025 but only after bootstrapping the company to $1 million in annual recurring revenue. That proof of concept shifted her position with investors. “We had proved ourselves before actually raising capital,” Hardy-Jones said.

The path to established revenue revealed how differently investors treat women founders. “The questions that I was asked as a founder were very different. It was all around competitors and risk, whereas my male counterparts were not fielding those sorts of questions. It was always around vision and ambition,” Hardy-Jones said.

The funding gap widens at advanced stages. Women-only teams accounted for 17.6 percent of pre-seed investments and 15 percent of seed investments, but only 7.5 percent of bridge investments. None of the Series investments captured in the 2025 dataset went to women-only founding teams.

Visibility and Investor Signaling Shape Founder Decisions

Investor messaging shapes which founders even approach venture capital firms. If a fund’s website or communications primarily feature male-led companies, women founders may conclude the fund is not designed for them. Rudd noted that unconscious bias among predominantly male investors plays a role. “People who are deploying venture capital dollars, also largely men, see people that look like them as safe and what success looks like,” she said.

Building more visible women in the startup ecosystem requires early intervention. Hardy-Jones emphasized that entrepreneurship education should start earlier and more women need opportunities in the space. “The more women that are put into the space and given these opportunities, the more that evens out,” she said.

For venture capital firms, the gap suggests their public-facing communications matter. Rudd said many women founders skip approaching certain funds altogether because the firms do not signal they welcome women-led businesses. When potential founders decide a fund is not for them, that firm may never get the opportunity to invest in those businesses.

The research demonstrates that women-led startups often generate more revenue on less investment capital than comparable companies. Unconscious bias in what investors perceive as a safe bet remains a barrier even as funding volumes improve.