{"id":251216,"date":"2026-04-04T06:21:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T06:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/251216\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T06:21:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T06:21:23","slug":"women-entrepreneurs-investors-convene-in-san-francisco-to-close-startup-funding-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/251216\/","title":{"rendered":"Women entrepreneurs, investors convene in San Francisco to close startup funding gap"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA is regarded as a leading region for startups, dominating the field globally year after year as a top recipient of venture capital funding. But the burgeoning startup economy has dragged its feet when it comes to investing in startups run by all-female founders, according to Founders Forum Group<\/a>, a collection of businesses that research startup trends.<\/p>\n

In 2024, only 2% of venture capital invested in Silicon Valley startups went to companies with all-female founding teams, the group found. Additionally, about 12% of startups in 2025 in Silicon Valley and San Francisco were founded by women, according to the Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Studies.<\/p>\n

Prospera Alpha Ventures<\/a>, a Silicon Valley-based fund and nonprofit investing in early-stage startups founded by women, is trying to close this gender gap.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday in downtown San Francisco, Prospera Alpha Ventures held a gathering with dozens of female startup founders and venture capitalists. The event, called the InnovateHer Investor Summit<\/a>, featured numerous speakers and served as a networking opportunity for women entrepreneurs and investors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just not as much opportunity for women entrepreneurs,\u201d said the nonprofit\u2019s chairman Alfredo Coppola at the event. \u201cWe really believe that we need to do something to level the playing field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grace Park, CEO for Prospera Alpha Ventures, explained the reason for the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really trying to create access to funding from Silicon Valley for women entrepreneurs and we brought together an ecosystem of investors,\u201d she said in an interview. \u201cWe have 22 investors that are excited to invest in women in the room, and also startup founders and industry leaders from Google and other tech companies that are supporting women today.\u201d<\/p>\n

A global challenge<\/p>\n

At the summit, women leaders in companies tied to countries across Asia and Europe described similar trends of low rates of female startup founders.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we look at the female founder landscape in Germany, unfortunately, only 18% of all founders were women in 2024 and all female teams only raised 1% of the total venture capital,\u201d said Simone Friese, marketing and communications director German American Chamber of Commerce, during a panel. \u201cWe need to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just not as much opportunity for women entrepreneurs. We really believe that we need to do something to level the playing field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alfredo Coppola, Prospera Alpha Ventures<\/p>\n

The women also shared how greater barriers to entry and fewer networking opportunities for women compared to men can hinder women\u2019s access to venture capital.<\/p>\n

A 2024 study from Yale University found that women founders do not receive as much capital investment, not because of a lack of skill or experience, but because of their gender. One reason for the discrepancy, researchers found, was because investors who experienced poor outcomes from a woman-led startup avoided other female startups thereafter. However, when they benefitted from women founders they still didn\u2019t invest more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t think it is a talent problem,\u201d said Rebecca Scheel, director of investment promotion agency Invest in Norway, in a speech. \u201cWe think it\u2019s an access problem, access to funding opportunities and networks, so we\u2019re actively trying to target those areas of problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Startup founders, venture capitalists, and other leaders pose for photo at the InnovateHer Investor Summit in San Francisco on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (Alise Maripuu\/Bay City News)<\/p>\n

Across the board, speakers noted how the lack of female representation among startup founders and investors can deter other women from wanting to enter those fields.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really believe you need to start bottom up,\u201d said Vladimira Cincurova, CEO of European Startup Embassy<\/a>, a San Francisco-based hub that connects European and American investors and entrepreneurs. \u201cWe need to really see real role models who invested in startups, became entrepreneurs, exited startups, and then reinvest their money back to the ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Making their pitch<\/p>\n

At the summit, several women-founded companies set up booths to share their products, such as muBeans<\/a>, a botanical coffee alternative with zero caffeine. Attendees also sipped on cans of OoMee<\/a>, a nonalcoholic beverage with a range of flavors containing marine sea plants that are supposed to support gut health and curb cravings.<\/p>\n

There was also a competition where eight startups led by women founders competed to win a trip to another InnovateHer Investor summit in Sardinia, Italy. Each entrepreneur had a few minutes to pitch their companies to a panel of Silicon Valley investors.<\/p>\n

Many of the startups were based on AI, such as a platform that uses an AI assistant to help connect real estate agents and buyers called Infinityy<\/a>. Another startup called SmartAlpha<\/a> incorporates AI assistants in ultrasounds.<\/p>\n

\"\"Jeklin Kim, founder of GemGem Therapeutics, pitches her company at the InnovateHer Investor Summit in San Francisco on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (Alise Maripuu\/Bay City News)<\/p>\n

The winner of the competition was Jeklin Kim, founder of GemGem Therapeutics<\/a>, a gaming platform for children with neurological and developmental conditions that uses AI in rehabilitation exercises.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy child was born with cerebral palsy,\u201d Kim said during her pitch. \u201cI spent a whole lot of money and time on therapy, and my kid didn\u2019t like it either. I built this hand therapy game, which allows us to make active movements 400 times every day, which is helpful for fine motor skills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kim will attend the summit in Italy held in September where she will be able to network with European investors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important that we act now because women are emerging as a driving force as innovators and investors today,\u201d Park said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA is regarded as a leading region for startups, dominating the field globally year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[2007,2080,387,6387,383,93,4306,111686,3127,101,103,102,104,106,105,2280,8170,1970,16614,2215,111687,111688],"class_list":{"0":"post-251216","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-conference","12":"tag-economy","13":"tag-featured","14":"tag-featured-news","15":"tag-gender-gap","16":"tag-investing","17":"tag-san-francisco","18":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","19":"tag-san-francisco-news","20":"tag-sf","21":"tag-sf-headlines","22":"tag-sf-news","23":"tag-silicon-valley","24":"tag-startups","25":"tag-technology","26":"tag-venture-capital","27":"tag-women","28":"tag-women-entrepreneurs","29":"tag-women-leaders"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}