SSV releases new research highlighting the stark gender gap in European late-stage venture capital
Smart Society Ventures (SSV)țs research highlighting the severe gender gap in Europe’s late-stage venture capital scene. The report, created in partnership with the UK government’s Invest in Women Taskforce and several leading VC firms, reveals that only 10% of late-stage VC funds are founded by women, and just 2% of Series B funding goes to all-female founding teams. These numbers drop even further in climate tech, one of the fastest-growing sectors.
The report also shows that female-led VC funds are vastly underrepresented at the decision-making level. Only 13% of late-stage funds have a female managing partner, and just 18% of General Partners are women. In climate tech, these numbers are even lower — only 9% of late-stage funds are female-founded, and 1.6% of Series B climate capital goes to women-led startups. The report calls this gap “The Missing Middle” — pointing to the underrepresentation of women during the critical scale-up phase.
This gender gap has ripple effects: studies show that female GPs are twice as likely to invest in female founders, meaning fewer women in decision-making roles leads to less capital flowing to women-led businesses. The report also notes that Europe lags behind the US and China in overall scale-up capital and operator experience, which further compounds the funding gap — particularly in sectors like climate tech that demand specialized expertise.
Beyond equity, the lack of female representation is a missed economic opportunity. The UK alone is losing out on £250 billion in growth annually due to gender disparities, and according to data from European Women in VC, a 10% increase in women in senior VC roles boosts fund returns by 1.3% IRR. The message is clear: improving gender diversity in late-stage venture isn’t just good ethics — it’s smart economics.
Source: https://www.eu.vc/p/ssv-releases-new-research-highlighting
