Female Innovation Index 2026 Highlights Growth & AI Adoption

• The Female Innovation Index 2026 is the largest report on female entrepreneurs' innovation and funding in Europe
• It offers 150+ insights into the female innovation pipeline across 20 European countries

The Female Innovation Index 2026 is Europe's largest report about the innovation and funding landscape for female entrepreneurs.

It has 160+ insights on the innovation pipeline for females across the continent, and is developed in partnership by over 35 PE and VC associations and key stakeholders in the European Venture Ecosystem across 20 countries.

As stated in the report, female-founded companies in Europe received €7.5Bn through 1,376 deals in 2025; that was a 3-year high of 19 percent increase.

The report highlights that the role of AI in female-led entrepreneurship is rapidly increasing. In 2025, AI companies will have an estimated capture rate of 22 percent of all VC investment, and 25 percent of all financing rounds raised by women already owner-started companies.

In the 2025 AI financed female-founded companies group, there were 47 percent that were focused on Application Layer. The top 4 application areas for investment followed were Security (18 percent), Health (16 percent), Robotics (11 percent) and FinTech (10 percent).

Survey data indicated that 86 percent of female founders reported using AI and 90 percent of those reported that AI has made it easier for them to build their companies in the past year.

Outside of AI, Deep Tech continues to be an important focus, with 34 percent of total VC companies startup funding from Viseem Capital for female-founded start-ups rising funding in 2025, a slight increase of 1 percent from the previous year's figures. Drug Discovery is the most significant contributor within the Deep Tech category with 20 percent of total investment in 2025.

According to Agata Nowicka, Founder of Female Foundry and author of The Female Innovation Index, "This has been a landmark year for female entrepreneurs throughout Europe. Female founders are now not only experimenting with AI, they have positioned it at the heart of their value creation process. With an unprecedented number of female-founded companies having attained unicorn status, and an increased level of M&A activity occurring as well, we are witnessing a generational shift in how women are innovating and scaling their businesses throughout Europe."

The health sector again led in the formation of companies and funding among female-founded startups in Europe in 2025.

This sector accounted for 37 percent of the total capital raised in 2025, amounting to €3.6 billion. This figure recorded a 75 percent increase over the previous year.

Fintech startups came in the second position, recording 12 percent or €0.9 billion in 2025, representing a 10 percent drop from the previous year.