Supernovas Launch New Tool to Tackle Gender Bias in Venture Capital
EIT Community Supernovas, together with the Esade Center for Social Impact and Equinox Equality, is launching the first dedicated tool designed to recognise and reduce gender bias in early-stage investment.
The tool accompanies a new report Levelling the playing field showing that progress towards gender equity in early-stage venture capital remains slow, with persistent funding disparities driven by entrenched stereotypes and structural barriers.
Innovation cannot thrive when bias determines who gets the chance to build the future. Through our work, we see the transformative power of inclusion every day – in ideas that reach markets, in teams that scale, and in solutions that change lives.
Martin Kern, EIT Director
EIT Community Supernovas is a pan-European programme powered by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), with the mission to increase the number of women-led startups and women investors across Europe through a combination of startup acceleration, unique education programmes, and community-building. The programme empowers women-led startups and future role models for women in business while also supporting the next generation of women venture capitalists and angel investors. So far, EIT Supernovas has trained 524 women in investment and supported 102 women-led startups from 23 countries, with €86 million investment attracted.
Key Findings
While many venture capital (VC) firms are increasingly aware of gender bias, the research shows that women founders still face systemic challenges in visibility, evaluation and deal flow. Across Europe, fewer than one in four deep tech startups have a woman in the founding team, and all-women founding teams attract barely 2 percent of early-stage venture capital funding. For example, assumptions around women’s work–life responsibilities continue to influence funding decisions. Pitching dynamics also play a role: men founders are more likely to present ambitious projections, whereas women often ground projections in proven deliverables. While this can signal credibility, it may be undervalued in a funding environment focused on projected scale.
The study also highlights the impact of the gender gap in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields on the founder pipeline. This gap is further reinforced by cultural norms within the VC industry, which can make it harder for women founders to access networks, capital and visibility.
The report draws on data from six European VC firms. It combines interviews, a survey on entrepreneurial stereotypes, and an assessment of gender equity practices in place.
The Way Forward
The research identified five key levers – that is, practical points of influence that organisations can act on to drive change – for addressing gender biases in VC. They are accompanied by practical steps and best practices coming from the firms in the research and are further outlined in the Gender Bias Mitigation Tool:
- Lever 1 – Awareness of gender bias: The first essential step is to build awareness of how gender bias operates in everyday decisions. This requires unconscious bias training across organisations, together with ongoing reflection on how subtle biases may influence investment choices.
- Lever 2 – Leadership support for inclusion: Visible and sustained support from leadership – whether from female or male partners – is key to driving focus, accountability, and momentum in addressing gender bias.
- Lever 3 – Gender diversity and an inclusive working culture: Greater gender diversity at all levels of a VC firm is strongly associated with increased funding flows to women founders. Achieving this may require intentional recruitment to counter the current under-representation of women applying for VC roles.
- Lever 4 – Gender-inclusive investment processes: Each stage of the investment cycle presents opportunities to challenge assumptions and reduce bias. This can include proactive scouting to reach under-represented founders and using standardised interview questions and evaluation criteria.
- Lever 5 – Gender-inclusive ecosystems: Engaging beyond the firm – for example, through mentoring women founders, participating in field-level initiatives, and joining collective actions – supports change at a system level rather than only within individual organisations.
Launch at SLUSH 2025
The report and tool were launched today ahead of SLUSH 2025, taking place on 19–20 November, at the EIT Community Supernovas networking event connecting women entrepreneurs and investors.
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