Investing in these female-founded companies will pay off, according to Fortune’s Future 50

Emma HinchliffeBy Emma HinchliffeMost Powerful Women Editor
Emma HinchliffeMost Powerful Women Editor

Emma Hinchliffe is Fortune’s Most Powerful Women editor, overseeing editorial for the longstanding franchise. As a senior writer at Fortune, Emma has covered women in business and gender-lens news across business, politics, and culture. She is the lead author of the Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter (formerly the Broadsheet), Fortune’s daily missive for and about the women leading the business world.

Melanie Perkins' Canva makes Fortune's Future 50 ranking.
Melanie Perkins' Canva makes Fortune's Future 50 ranking.
Nina Franova/Getty Images for SXSW Sydney


Fortune’s Future 50 list pinpoints 50 fast-growing companies to watch—and invest in. Published this morning, the ranking is dominated by software and AI businesses. Half of the spots belong to companies that are still private.

Unsurprisingly, it’s mostly dominated by companies with neither a female founder or CEO. But there are a few women-led or -founded businesses on the ranking that it’s also no surprise to see.

Canva, the visual communication company founded and led by CEO Melanie Perkins, comes in at No. 32. Canva has already made several of its employees millionaires through secondary share sales as it approaches a long-awaited IPO. For outside investors, its pivot from graphic design to enterprise productivity and AI coding offers an opportunity to live up to a valuation that’s at least $32 billion.

Anthropic, cofounded by Daniela Amodei, comes in at No. 29. Its valuation is currently $61.5 billion and its devotion to studying the ethical and political implications of AI sets it apart in the AI race.

Overall, the list draws on data from more than 3,000 companies and relies on 25 metrics. Since the list first launched, companies chosen for it have outperformed the MSCI World stock index by 1.4 percentage points, with averaged annual total returns of 12%.

Explore the full list here.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com

The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Subscribe here.

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PARTING WORDS

"I wrote this on the back of notes I took in therapy the other day, so don’t look at the back."

— Cristin Milioti, accepting her Emmy for outstanding actress in a limited series or movie

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