Venture capitalist Ankita Vashistha, with some founders of start-ups.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Venture capital remains deeply unequal in who it funds, indicating a gender-based funding gap, lamented Ankita Vashistha, founder and managing partner, Arise Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm operating out of Bengaluru and San Francisco.
Despite proven benefits of diversity, funding for women-only and underrepresented minority founder teams consistently fell below 2% of the total VC funds of $425 billion raised globally and $13 billion raised in India in 2025, she stated, quoting data from Arise Ventures’ Diversity Report 2026 released in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Meanwhile, women co-founded Generative AI related ventures saw (over a period of 18 months until mid of calendar 2025) private funding to the tune of $25.2 billion globally, which is barely 10% of the total $258 billion global AI funding in 2025. “This is the gap we aim to close. To start with, impacting over 1 million women founders by 2030 through our investments, programmes, and platforms,’’ said Ms. Vashistha, who also runs StrongHer, an early stage platform and fund exclusively for women in tech-driven startups.
She further said disparities are often happening even when multiple researches show that diverse teams do not just add perspective, they deliver measurable business gains.
“The funding gap is no longer a hidden issue, it is a clear reflection of how unequal access to opportunity still is. Women founders continue to build resilient, high-potential businesses, yet the share of capital reaching them remains disproportionately small,’’ said Anisha Patnaik, founder, LexStart.
According to Somdutta Singh, CEO Assiduus, in an ecosystem where women still receive a disproportionately small share of funding, the role of certain funds like Arise Ventures become incredibly meaningful.
Half of the over 600 women entrepreneurs surveyed for this study revealed they have been facing biases right from pitching to fundraising solely due to their gender. “Women entrepreneurs who are trying to raise funds see this as the biggest roadblock on the way to growth,” observed Ms. Vashishtha.
Published – March 07, 2026 11:12 pm IST
