There are several ways to define an emerging manager in venture capital; one is that they’ve raised three or fewer funds. Female Founders Fund, Anu Duggal’s firm that backs women-founded companies, just closed its fourth fund, Fortune is the first to report. By that measure, investing in female founders is no longer considered “emerging.”
It’s a notable milestone; Duggal says when she was launching the fund a decade ago, she was told that fewer than 15% of managers make it to fund four. For a solo female GP, that stat is infinitesimal. Then came a prolonged market downturn which some of the founders in Female Founders Fund’s portfolio didn’t make it through. “Unless you’re a Sequoia or General Catalyst, it’s been a rough few years,” she says.
The fourth fund is $29 million, which Duggal raised between November 2023 and this month. It brings Female Founders Fund’s total capital under management to $140 million across five funds, including a $14 million opportunity fund. (By dollar amount, the firm would likely still be considered emerging.) LPs in the newest fund include firms headed by notable women: Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Ventures, Olivia Walton’s Ingeborg Investments, and the Anne Wojcicki Foundation.
Female Founders Fund has distinguished itself, despite its relatively small size, by building an ecosystem. The fund hosts annual events for the founders in and outside its portfolio and sources much of its deal flow from within that network. High net-worth women’s backing of the fund as LPs could be considered the top of that network. Milestones like Duggal’s investment in the first repeat Female Founders Fund founder (Mariah Chase, cofounder of Eloquii now building a retail software product) showed this ecosystem coming full circle.
Duggal has already started investing out of fund four; its first investment was in 831 Stories, the romance publishing business trying a new way of publishing and building fandom in the genre.
“We’ve proven our thesis,” Duggal says. “We’ve had three nine-figure exits and survived this market downturn.” Those exits include the razor business Billie, which sold to Edgewell for $310 million; plus-size brand Eloquii, which sold to Walmart; and restaurant software platform BentoBox, which sold to Fiserv. In 2024, Female Founders Fund returned its first fund, which was $5.85 million. Duggal has been focused on that fiduciary responsibility as LPs have become more discerning about ensuring managers are returning capital. A report commissioned by the fund found that female-founded companies deliver 2.5 times more revenue per dollar than male-founded peers.
In its early days, Female Founders Fund mostly backed consumer startups—where Duggal says the market was at the time. “Ten years ago, we didn’t meet founders that were building cars or planes,” she says. (Now Female Founders Fund has both in its portfolio.) Other notable companies in its portfolio include the women’s health unicorn Maven and the fintech Tala.
Her goal for the decade ahead is to deploy half a billion dollars into female-founded companies.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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PARTING WORDS
"I think it’s also important to know when it’s not your turn. I don’t mean that you should silence yourself. I mean sometimes it’s just not your time. And that’s something I’ve understood more as I’ve matured."
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