The story of funding for female founders over the past year seems to be a few outlier AI businesses skewing the data for the rest; $30 billion raised by Anthropic and Scale AI last year made 2025 a record year in funding for female founders, according to PitchBook, even as deal count fell.
A new analysis from Female Founders Fund, out this morning, adds some additional context to that data. What stands out to me is a new category the fund is calling “zombie unicorns.”
In 2025, there were 20 new female-founded unicorns (companies valued at more than $1 billion), and the aggregate valuation of female-founded unicorns reached a record high of $481 billion. Amazing! Except there is also a growing cohort of companies with unicorn valuations that are “still operating, but are unable to raise an up round, not on a clear path to IPO, and not attracting acquisition offers that match their last private valuation.”
Female Founders Fund doesn’t name check any companies that fall into this category, but a few come to mind. The fertility network Kindbody was valued at $1.8 billion in 2023, and earlier this year it was reported the company’s valuation had fallen to $400 million as it shuttered clinics. The luggage and travel brand Away was valued at $1.4 billion in 2019. Founder Jen Rubio said last year that Away’s investors were prepared for a “longer time horizon” for any exit. There’s even Glossier, which was valued at $1.2 billion in 2019 and last raised at a down round—although it seems to be growing again after a reset.
Many of these businesses came up during a different era of venture capital, when growth was king and valuations for consumer brands were higher. The challenge of resetting for a new era isn’t unique to female founders. But unsurprisingly, these companies’ fates are more likely to impact the rest of the female founder ecosystem, while the outcomes for companies with male founders facing the same challenges won’t affect men’s ability to raise capital.
“Zombie” doesn’t mean that these companies won’t survive. Female Founders Fund founding partner Anu Duggal is watching exactly how they survive. Down rounds? Structured financing with tough terms? Secondary sales to reset valuations? Acquisitions below their peak price? Or just long hold periods supported by cost cuts and a push to profitability?
Those decisions will impact the next generation of companies, especially those looking to move from seed to Series A dependent on the same investor ecosystem. “While we saw exciting momentum around large female-led exits in 2025, how these zombie unicorns ultimately find liquidity will shape the entire ecosystem,” Duggal says.
As Duggal hinted, it’s not all bad news. 2025 saw some notable exits for female founders: Rhode’s sale to Elf for $1 billion. Poppi’s acquisition by PepsiCo for $1.95 billion. Touchland’s $700 million sale to Church & Dwight. Female founders’ share of total U.S. exit count rose to 24.9% in 2025. Female Founders Fund argues that the “exit environment provided one of the clearest signals of durability: more female-founded companies found paths to liquidity, and total realized value increased materially.”
Female founders are survivors. And zombies? They come back to life.
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
"There hasn't been enough done, in my opinion, to thank them for sacrificing to keep this league alive so we could have this moment."
— The Washington Mystics' Alysha Clark, explaining why she pushed for a provision in the WNBA's new deal: back pay for retired players. Players with at least five years of service will all get a payout, with those who played for 12 or more years getting $100,000.
