FIRST EVER DATA-DRIVEN INVESTIGATION INTO FUNDING OF FEMALE VS. MALE FOUNDED AGRI-FOODTECH STARTUPS REVEALS STRIKING GAP
Report Conducted by AgFunder, The New Food Economy and Karen Karp & Partners Reveals Female-Only Pitches Received Just 7% of the Deals and 3% of Dollars in 2018
October 3, 2019 (New York, NY) – Today, a consortium of three noted food system leaders unveiled “Money Where Our Mouths Are” (MWOMA)—the first-ever set of data revealing the specific and startling inequality in venture deals and dollars being granted to women trying to pave the way in Agri-FoodTech compared to their male counterparts.
The New Food Economy, AgFunder and Karen Karp & Partners (KK&P), with the support of S2G Ventures, analyzed AgFunder’s database of more than 8,000 agriculture and food-tech investments between 2015-2018.
The report reveals that while the Agri-FoodTech sector had a record-breaking year in 2018, with a 43% increase in deals to the tune of $16.9B, start-ups with at least one female founder represented only 16% of those deals. The story is even more dire for women-only founders:
- Only 3% of investment dollars and 7% of deals went to female only founders in Agri-FoodTech; and 16% of deals and 5% of dollars went to start-ups with at least one female founder
- There was a 37% decline in funding for female founded Agri-FoodTech start-ups between 2017 and 2018
- There is an even sharper decline in deals and dollars between Seed and Series A funding
[Download the full report here.]
