Are Women Actually Getting Funded to Build AI?
A record $73.2B headline hides who really got funded
Key takeaway: Mostly, no. U.S. startups with a woman founder raised a record $73.2 billion in Q2 2026, but 89 cents of every dollar went to one company, Anthropic. All-female founding teams still capture only about 3% of AI deals overall, below the 7% average for all-female teams across every other sector.
By Dear Sarah · · Updated
Key takeaways
- U.S. startups with at least one woman founder raised $73.2 billion in the second quarter of 2026, their second-best quarterly total on record, according to PitchBook.
- Nearly 89% of that total went to a single company, Anthropic, co-founded by president Daniela Amodei.
- The other 621 female-founded companies that raised money that quarter split about $8.2 billion combined.
- All-female founding teams receive roughly 3% of AI venture deals, below the 7% cross-sector average for all-female teams.
- AI captured 86% of all U.S. venture funding in the first half of 2026, meaning the industry moving the most money is still funding very few women to build it.
You've probably seen the headline: women-founded startups just had their second-best funding quarter ever. Here's the honest read on that, up front — it's not the win it sounds like. U.S. startups with at least one woman founder raised $73.2 billion in the second quarter of 2026, but 89 cents of every one of those dollars landed in a single company. The other 621 female-founded startups that raised money that quarter split roughly $8.2 billion combined, according to PitchBook data reported by Inc.
What actually happened with the $73.2 billion number?
The company that swallowed nearly all of it was Anthropic, co-founded by president Daniela Amodei and her brother, CEO Dario Amodei, which closed a $65 billion round in May at a $965 billion valuation. That's a real, enormous deal, and Amodei is a real woman running a real AI lab. But when one company can flip the entire "women in AI funding" story from bleak to record-breaking in a single close, the headline number stops telling you anything about the hundreds of other women out there trying to build something. Zoom out and it gets starker: AI captured 86% of all U.S. venture dollars in the first half of 2026, $355.9 billion of $412.7 billion total, and within that gold rush, all-female founding teams still land only about 3% of AI deals, below the already-thin 7% average for all-female teams across every other sector.
This funding data is the money version of a pattern we've written about before — the gap in who even uses AI at work and who actually builds the AI you use every day. Tara Chklovski, founder and CEO of Technovation, the nonprofit that has trained more than 400,000 girls in over 100 countries to build tech rather than just consume it, has spent years making one core argument about this exact gap. "When you're not tapping into 50% of your population for the ideas, for the innovation, for the perspectives, we all miss out," she told Euronews. It's not a slogan. It's a plain description of what happens when the tools reshaping how we work, date, parent, and heal get built almost entirely by teams that look one way and get funded one way.
Why it matters for you
If you're a young woman with an idea for an AI tool, or you're already building one, none of this is a reason to sit it out. It's a reason to walk into the room knowing exactly what you're up against. Investors aren't passing on women's ideas at higher rates because the ideas are weaker. The data shows the barrier is structural, not a quality problem, which means it's not yours to internalize. And if you're not building anything yourself, it still shapes your life. Every app that talks to you, recommends things to you, or makes calls about you was very likely designed, tested, and funded by teams where women were the minority in the room. That's part of why we built Dear Sarah to be a women-first AI confidante instead of a general-purpose assistant — who gets to build the thing changes what the thing becomes.
One thing to try today
If the builder side of AI is new territory for you, give it ten honest minutes today. Look up one women-led AI company, or one program built specifically to get girls and women building tech instead of just using it — Technovation is a solid place to start. Bookmark it, follow it, or just sit with the fact that it exists. You don't need to launch a startup this week to start paying attention to who's actually in the room.
Quote to sit with
"The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity." — Viola Davis
💌 Sarah
Frequently asked questions
Are women getting funded to build AI companies?
Not at the rate the headline numbers suggest. Women-founded startups raised a record $73.2 billion in Q2 2026, but a single company, Anthropic, accounted for 89% of that total. All-female founding teams still capture only about 3% of AI venture deals, well below the 7% average for all-female teams across other sectors.
What happened with the $73.2 billion women-founder funding number in 2026?
PitchBook counted 622 deals involving at least one woman founder in Q2 2026. Anthropic's $65 billion round, closed in May at a $965 billion valuation, made up nearly 89% of the total. The other 621 companies split roughly $8.2 billion combined.
How much AI venture funding goes to all-female founding teams?
Around 3% of AI deals go to teams made up entirely of women, compared to a 7% average for all-female teams across every other sector. AI itself took 86% of all U.S. venture dollars in the first half of 2026, so a shrinking share of an enormous pie still adds up to very little for women-only teams.
Why does it matter who builds AI, not just who uses it?
The people who build a product decide whose problems it solves first. Technovation founder Tara Chklovski has argued that leaving out half the population's ideas and perspectives means everyone misses out on the innovation those perspectives would have brought. It's the funding-side version of a pattern already visible in who builds and uses AI tools day to day.
What can I do if I want to get into building AI instead of just using it?
Start small and concrete: look up one women-led AI company or one program designed to teach girls and women to build tech, like Technovation, and follow what they're doing. You don't have to launch anything this week to start learning who's actually in the room and how they got there.
Sources
- Female Founders Had Their Second-Best Funding Quarter Ever—but 1 Startup Drove 89 Percent of It — Inc.
- With a record $73.6B raised by female founders, why does the AI funding gap feel wider than ever? — Tech Funding News
- PitchBook: US venture funding hits $412.7B in first half as AI deals dominate — SiliconANGLE
- The next Microsoft will be started by a 17-year-old girl, Tara Chklovski says — Euronews
Keep reading
- Who builds your AI? A few numbers worth knowing — You talk to AI like it gets you. But the rooms where it's built are mostly men. Here's what that quietly costs us.
- Neither artificial nor intelligent: the cost of AI — The word "artificial" makes AI sound weightless. It isn't. Here's what's underneath it, and why noticing matters for you.
- How to talk to any AI and spot its blind spots — AI talks to you in a soft, sure voice. Here's how to tell when it actually understands you, and when it's just being agreeable.
- AI companions are booming. Who were they built for? — Millions of people are talking to AI companions now. But peek at who they were designed for, and a familiar pattern shows up.