The Top Female Founder In Every Country – World Map.
In an ideal world, female start-up founders would not need to prove their value compared to their male counterparts. But research shows that women face negative attitudes during pitches. Investors ask women more about risk and losses, while men are asked about ambitions and achievements. The Top Female Founder In Every Country World Map.
For instance that’s tough luck for prejudiced investors. Hence Female founders deliver higher profits. As a result they are more likely to run their business in a socially responsible way. And, because they are more driven by ideas than money, they are a better bet for long-term success.
So, who are these high-achieving women entrepreneurs? Hence when we analysed data from the business information resource Crunchbase to identify the top female founder in every country in the world and created this new set of maps to show who they are and what they do.

The Top Ten Female Founders in the World
FUNDING (USD) | COUNTRY | FEMALE FOUNDER | COMPANY (INDUSTRY) |
---|---|---|---|
$ 22 billion | China | Lucy Peng | Ant (Financial) |
$ 19,5 billion | United States of America | Rebekah Neumann | The We Company (Real Estate) |
$ 9.9 billion | Singapore | Tan Hooi Ling | Grab (Transportation) |
$ 1.4 billion | Australia | Kate Keenan | Judo Bank (FinTech) |
$ 1.2 billion | United Kingdom | Victoria van Lennep | Lendable (FinTech) |
$ 1.1 billion | Brazil | Cristina Junqueira | Nubank (FinTech) |
$ 581 million | Hong Kong | Frances Kang | WeLab (FinTech) |
$ 282 million | South Korea | Sophie Kim | Market Kurly (Agro & Food) |
$ 278 million | Switzerland | Ilise Lombardo | Arvelle Therapeutics (Biotech & Health) |
$ 260 million | Lithuania | Milda Mitkute | Vinted (E-Commerce) |
All things considered the female founders with the largest funding hauls are spread across five continents. Generally from multi-billion-dollar deals in the world’s top business economies to plucky start-ups in less obvious markets, these are the female leaders who’ve made the biggest splash in their respective homelands.
Europe
For instance Victoria van Lennep made it to the Forbes 30 under 30 in 2018 after raising over $250m in lending capital for her UK company, Lendable. As can be seen the total raised now stands at over $1bn. For example Lendable uses machine-learning tech to automate credit decisions, offering customers fairer loan rates.
Biotech start-ups are big in Europe, but our research shows there’s room for gaming, too. For instance in Finland, Stella Wang raised nearly $7m to create Minecraft-inspired sandbox games for the social generation. To sum up she co-founded Dazzle Rocks and provided the creative vision and valuable insight into the cultural differences across eastern and western gaming markets.

North America
For example the top female founder in the US is Rebekah Neumann, who raised nearly $20bn for The We Company. In short this is the parent company of WeWork and other subsidiaries and has interests in real estate, finance, and hospitality. Neumann has since taken a step back from The We Company amidst some controversy.
In the meantime our research reveals that North American female founders often find success with e-commerce and business software companies. for instance one stand-out example is Kemly Camacho, who founded Sulá Batsú in 2005 as a socially-oriented co-operative. As can be seen Camacho has raised $350,000 to support development in Haitian communities through digital technology, art and culture, and knowledge-sharing.

South America
Cristina Junqueira’s waters broke in the company office during the first months of Nubank’s existence. For instance the start-up’s only female co-founder continued answering calls all the way to the hospital. Brazil (and South America’s) top female founder has raised over $1.1bn for Nubank but is just as interested in raising female representation in technology and banking.
For example Junqueira says “Many of the structural choices we’ve made in terms of gender equality and inclusion are reflective of the fact that I have been here from the beginning”. “Traditional companies are uncomfortable because they are losing talent directly to us as they are less able to attract younger professionals to whom things like diversity and inclusion are very important.”

The Middle East & Central Asia
For instance Miri Ratner sees things other people can’t. As can be seen Ratner has raised $188m for Vayyar, an Israeli company that initially designed their ‘4D imaging’ technology to detect breast cancer. For example Vayyar’s sensors are now being touted to make autonomous cars safer, to give vision to robots, and for use in homeland security.
For example the top female founders in Jordan are Rama Kayyali and Lamia Tabbaa. In short together they raised $2.1m for Little Thinking Minds, a start-up that develops digital education resources primarily for Arabic kids. For instance Kayyali acknowledges her economic privilege, stressing that work is a passion and not a necessity. Given these points “For me, working is a choice, I choose to work.”

The Rest of Asia & Oceania
The world’s top female founder is Lucy Peng. Above all as the sole founder of Ant Financial Services – Alibaba’s online finance outfit – Peng raised $22bn, including a world record $4.5bn funding round in 2016. Peng was part of Alibaba from the beginning, too.Accordingly as one of the Chinese e-commerce company’s six female founders.
For instance Miku Hirano is a millennial tech founder and “serial entrepreneur” in Japan. By and large a computer science graduate, Hirano raised $30m to launch Cinnamon AI. For example says Hirano “The most difficult thing for entrepreneurs is to find PMF (product-market fit),” . All things considered “Even if you have a good idea, you cannot sell it if there is no need in the market.”

Africa
For example Audrey Desiderato is the female founder who has raised the most funding in Africa: $81.3m. As can be seen her Kenyan company, SunFunder, funds solar energy companies in sub-Saharan Africa to provide power to areas without reliable electricity access.
For instance Tope Omotolani recalls “I realised early on that, as a woman trying to get ahead, I had to work really hard in order not to drop the ball,” , who raised $2.5m for Nigerian agtech startup, Farmcrowdy. “I prioritized my work, doing the 20% that will give me the 80% result instead of doing 80% that will give 20% result and delegated responsibilities as much as I could.”

The Top Female Founders in Every State of America
All in all aside from Rebekah Neumann (New York), Georgia’s Kathryn Petralia is America’s top female founder. She was also Forbes’ 98th most powerful woman in the world in 2017. As can be seen Petralia has raised nearly $2.5bn for Kabbage, a fintech company that simplifies working capital loans for small businesses.
For the most part Biotech and health start-ups are a lucrative business for female founders across the States. For example our map shows that the top founders of 21 states are with biotech/health firms. However in Texas, the trio of Ann Leen, Helen Heslop, and Cliona Rooney was at the heart of the AlloVir team that raised $159m to develop cell therapies for virus sufferers.

The Decade of Female Entrepreneurs?
Over the past decade for example, the percentage of deals made with teams that included women founders rose from 7.9% to 15.7%. Last year, 21 female-founded or co-founded American start-ups became unicorns, up from 15 the previous year. Investors are waking up the power of female founders finally. For instance as our research shows, they are waking up all over the world.
The story of female start-up founders may be of triumph over adversity – but that triumph is just beginning.
Methodology & Sources
To create these maps, we selected female founders that have been a founder or co-founder of at least one company in a given country or state of the US-listed in CrunchBase. For the most part in each country, we selected the women who founded companies with the greatest funding amount raised. However some countries, no qualifying companies with female founders were listed on CrunchBase. In cases where there was more than one female co-founder, all-female co-founders were included.
As a result of, Industry categorisation was created on the basis of industries and company descriptions, as listed on CrunchBase. In conclusion the final dataset contains 107 female founders and co-founders across 102 countries in the world. In particular for the US, 57 female founders were included from 50 states and DC.
Finally, the data collected in June 2020. For example, the full research behind this map, visit bit.ly/Women-Trailblazers. The Top Female Founder In Every Country – World Map.
Also Read:
- 3 leadership lessons for women in tech
- 6 Ways You Can Break Down Barriers That Hold Women Back in Business
- 8 Ways To Learn From Your Team And Succeed Together

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