Good morning! FEC commissioner calls out Trump for trying to fire her, UPS CEO is facing unhappy investors, and the VC gender gap has consequences beyond funding.
– Gender gap. The venture capital market has started to slowly rebound over the past year. But that rebound hasn’t been felt equally. Female founders feel less supported by VCs and less optimistic about raising funding, according to a new survey by January Ventures.
The pre-seed fund surveyed 311 early-stage founders between September and December of 2024; January Ventures shared those results exclusively with Fortune. Of the founders surveyed, 20% hadn’t yet started to raise capital, 50% had raised pre-seed or angel funding, 25% were seed stage, and 3% were Series A. Half of all respondents were in the U.S., with 35% in Europe. Just under half of survey respondents were women and almost half were people of color.
Twenty-two percent of male startup founders said they felt strong support from VCs—while only 11% of female founders felt the same. That’s the largest gap since before the pandemic. Almost 60% of male founders said they feel optimistic about raising capital, while only 41% of female founders feel the same.
Female founders aren’t wrong to be less optimistic. In 2024, total deal value in the U.S. venture capital market crossed $209 billion, according to PitchBook—although outsize AI raises accounted for about a quarter of that activity. Other signs point to a challenging environment for female founders. In 2024, emerging managers raised $15 billion—the lowest sum in a decade, per PitchBook. The seed-stage startup founders surveyed by January Ventures are often among those to receive checks from emerging managers. Indeed, 21% of female founders surveyed said they forewent raising at all in 2024, while only 5% of men said the same.
Compared to their male counterparts, female founders were 30% more likely to report experiencing mental health challenges. Almost 30% of male founders believe that becoming a founder improved their mental health—only 18% of female founders say the same.
“There’s a massive opportunity for investors who can reduce friction for female founders and address this capital inefficiency,” says January Ventures managing partner Jennifer Neundorfer.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Moved to remove. Ellen Weintraub, commissioner and chair of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), shared that President Donald Trump moved to remove her from her position. “There’s a legal way to replace FEC commissioners—this isn’t it,” she said. Axios
- Stock slump. UPS CEO Carol Tomé is facing pressure from investors over the company’s stock price slump. After saying it would be reducing its business with Amazon, UPS stock had its sharpest single-day drop on record. Tomé told investors that the company’s “future is very bright” and that UPS is “not shrinking.” Wall Street Journal
- Not guilty plea. Real estate agents Tal and Oren Alexander, and their brother Alon, pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking. Over 60 women have alleged that they were raped by at least one of the Alexander brothers, according to the prosectors who plan to file additional charges. ABC
- Welcome to the team. Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati continues to grow her startup team—OpenAI cofounder John Schulman, previously at Anthropic, is coming on board. Fortune
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Pathward, a bank and subsidiary of Pathward Financial, named Anjana Berde EVP and chief people and culture officer. Previously, she was chief people officer at Accion Opportunity Fund.
Automotive repair and services company Caliber named Casey Santos CTO. She most recently was chief information officer at Asurion.
AMETEK, an electronic instruments company, appointed Isabel S. Wells as VP, information technology and chief information officer. Most recently, she was chief information officer at Kimball Electronics.
SugarCRM, a sales automation software company, appointed Lyndsey Valin as chief customer officer. She was SVP, global professional services at Pros.
Astronics Corporation, an aerospace and defense technology company, appointed Fay West to its board of directors. She most recently served as SVP and CFO of Tennant Company.
ON MY RADAR
Abandoned in the middle of clinical trials, because of a Trump order New York Times
NFL’s CFO landed her dream job. Here are 3 ways playing sports prepared her for leadership Fortune
Natasha Rothwell has a vision Marie Claire
PARTING WORDS
“The throughline throughout my whole career is creating what I feel I needed—creating what I feel the world needs more of, and not just contributing to the status quo.”
— Elaine Welteroth, founder of birthFUND and former Teen Vogue editor-in-chief, on her past and present ventures