Clearly, there is still a gender gap in representation, funding and salary in the startup world. In fact, Harvard Business Review reported that women-led startups received just 2.3% of VC funding in 2020. Despite the setbacks and biases they face, we are also seeing a growing number of female CEOs thriving in the startup ecosystem. So who are the female entrepreneurs moving the needle? Below we take a look at a few emerging stars to watch.

Highlighting success stories to foster female entrepreneurship

Most recently, Bumble’s listing on Nasdaq was a key milestone moment for women in tech across the world. Moreover, between 2009 and 2019, the number of new businesses reaching unicorn status with at least one female entrepreneur went from 4 to 21 per year – a 425% increase!

It’s important to share such success stories to inspire the next generation of female entrepreneurs and spark conversations on the benefits of diversity in business.

At Early Metrics, we have rated close to 4000 startups and have witnessed first hand the lack of gender diversity within management teams. But we have also had the chance to assess very promising tech businesses that are led by women. So to celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day, we want to highlight some of the exciting technologies created by female entrepreneurs in our database.

5 startups to watch founded by female entrepreneurs

We looked at the startups rated in 2020 with a strong growth potential score (over 70) and that have a female CEO. The 5 top emerging businesses among this sample all have a high degree of innovation within their products and a significant focus on sustainability.

From proptech to flexible microelectronics and upcycling processes, we can see that these women are tackling a range of industries, challenging the status-quo in generally male-dominated environments. They hail from all over the world, being based in the U.S., Belgium, Poland, France and Canada.

Congratulations to the featured startups:

• Upcyclea, led by Christine Guinebretiere
• Sunray Scientific, led by Madhu Stemmermann
• Handerek Technologies, led by Susan Kim-Chomicka
• Open Ocean Robotics, led by Julie Angus
• DeltaQ, led by Khadija Nadi

Find out more about their fascinating tech startups in our infographic: