9 Best Female-Focused Funds

Founding teams that include men and women produce dramatically stronger valuation growth than all-male founding teams, according to research from First Round Capital. But startups withgender-diverseteams win just 18 percent of the venture capital pie.

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The following funds are trying to change that. All have a stated mandate to invest in female founders. At present, there are fewer than 100 such funds in the United States; in aggregate, they likely have less than a billion dollars to invest. But given that women CEOs get only 2.7 percent of the approximately $80 billion in venture capital each year—or about $2 billion—that could be enough to begin to make a difference. These nine funds should be on every female founder’s radar, but stay tuned for the debut of our complete list of female-focused funds on inc.com. —KIMBERLY WEISUL

Backstage Capital

WEST HOLLYWOOD, CALIF.

In May, when Backstage Capital founder Arlan Hamilton announced the formation of a $36 million fund to invest in black women, she was surprised at the reaction. “They’re calling it a diversity fund,” she tweeted. “I’m calling it an IT’S ABOUT DAMN TIME fund.” That new fund is her second; her first is investing $5 million. Hamilton has now invested $4 million of that in 100 entrepreneurs who are women, people of color, and/or members of the LGBTQ community—including the founders of Tinsel, BeVisible, Blendoor, and Uncharted Power.

BBG Ventures

NEW YORK CITY

BBG (“Built by Girls”) began in 2014 as a $10 million fund started by AOL to invest in consumer internet and mobile startups that have at least one female founder. Helmed by former Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia CEO Susan Lyne, it’s still following that mission, but now AOL is part of Oath.