Female Foundry Week 139: The Superpowers. The Soft Launch of the Female Innovation Index 2025. Splits and all. Funding for climate-tech falls down. Female Foundry x TechChill Riga 2025
Welcome to The Week 139, 2025 Edition of the Female Foundry newsletter!
Female Foundry - the Future of Venture is here.
In the news
Barcelona-based medtech Sycai Medical, co-founded by Sara Toledano and Júlia Rodríguez-Comas secures a €3m Seed round from investors including LUMO Labs, Ship2B Ventures, Athos Capital, and Namarel Ventures for early detection of abdominal cancer using AI; Hamburg-based ingarden, co-founded by Mariana Ferreira, raises a €1.2m Seed extension round led by Gemüsering Stuttgart GmbH, to combat nutrient deficiencies; Copenhagen-based Tryp.com, co-founded by Inês Jorge, picks up a €3.1m Seed round led by Iberis Capital, to scale its AI-driven travel planning platform; Swedish fintech startup Open Payments, co-founded by Louise Brandt, fetches a €3m Seed round led by Alfvén & Didrikson, to enhance its open banking payment platform; Berlin-based Green Fusion, co-founded by Nina Garmanus, bags a €12m Series A round led by HV Capital to expand AI-powered heating optimisation; London-based bike-sharing operator Forest, co-founded by Caroline Seton, lands a €13m Series B round led by Fintex Capital to expand its sustainable e-bike fleet.
Lisbon-based AgileGTM Blockchain Fund, co-founded by Maria do Carmo Pereira, has secured a $2m first close of its $10m pan-European VC fund to invest in Pre-Seed B2B blockchain startups.
Spotlight
The Superpowers.
In the past two weeks, both the UK and the US have made bold commitments to strengthening their focus on technology and innovation. UK leader Keir Starmer pledged to make Britain an AI 'superpower,' outlining plans for pro-innovation regulations, increased public data access for researchers, and the creation of data centres. The government estimates AI could boost the UK economy by 1.5% annually, adding an additional £47 billion over the next decade. With no capital commitments, however, this is a bold—and perhaps hopeful—pledge for the UK to stay relevant in global innovation, falling behind tech giants the US and China.
This news comes as it was announced this week that one of the world’s most prolific VC firms, Andreessen Horowitz, will close its UK office to focus on crypto opportunities in the US—just two years after opening its London office. For context, Andreessen Horowitz’s flagship crypto fund saw over 40% of its value wiped out in 2022. However, the firm’s direction has now dramatically shifted with Donald Trump at the helm and his Tuesday’s executive order, aimed at strengthening America’s leadership in cryptocurrencies.
On the US front, during his first week in office, Trump also unveiled a $500 billion AI investment plan under the project name Stargate, calling it 'the largest AI infrastructure initiative in history.' The initiative, backed by OpenAI, Oracle, SoftBank, and MGX, aims to build data centers and create over 100,000 jobs across the US over the next four years, with the first $100 billion set to be injected immediately.
Critics say that the US-centric nature of the Stargate project may result in AI products, like ChatGPT, reflecting US political, social, and cultural values, making other countries more reliant on US technology, and granting Washington significant political leverage through export controls and sanctions.
Community
Soft Launch - Female Innovation Index 2025
I’m looking forward to the Soft Launch of the Female Innovation Index 2025, this week where I’ll share the first insights from the survey. The tickets sold out within 3 days of the anouncement!
Joining me will be Mariam Ahmed (Founder, Menza), Piotr Bukanski (VC Investor at Beringea), Hailey Eustace (angel investor), and Jessica Corry (Founder, Xterna) to discuss the early-stage fundraising and innovation landscape.
Following up, I will be joined by Murvah Iqbal (Founder, HIVED), Shamillah Bankiya (VC Investor at Dawn Capital), Aaron Archer (Partner, Cooley), and Tom Simmons (Director, the London Stock Exchange Group) to discuss the early-stage fundraising and innovation landscape.
Thank you to our anchor sponsors Google Cloud, the London Stock Exchange, and Cooley LLP—and our associate sponsors, HSBC Innovation Banking and Carta, and Accenture Fintech Innovation Lab - for their invaluable support!
I look forward to seeing some of you on Wednesday!
Fundraising
Splits and all.
Earlier this week, I spoke with a founder preparing for a pre-Series A equity extension round, only to find that the founding team collectively held just 45% of their company’s equity.
This is not a really good position. Founders are generally expected to retain at least 50% equity by Series A to ensure they stay motivated and maintain control, to drive company’s growth post-Series A and beyond. Equity allocation is critical, and how you split it early on can have lasting implications. These days, I often see founding teams giving away too much to hired-in technical and AI-skilled co-founders—remember, building a successful company is a long game. What about the vesting schedules? Vesting schedules typically span four years, though five- and six-year schedules are becoming more common. If you’ve made the mistake of giving away too much equity too early, all is not lost. You can still adjust ownership through mechanisms like founder grant refreshes or secondaries down the line, though these processes can become very complex.
Here’s the latest data on equity splits among founding teams and how ownership evolves as you progress through funding rounds (note: the rounds do not take into account extension rounds). - It’s vital for you to leave some buffer for tough times.
For those just starting, be strategic with equity at the early stages. Say no to advisors asking for more than 1% equity, and question value of accelerators taking more than 7%—even if they offer up to €150k in cash. Similarly, say no to giving away more than 15% to early angel investors, as this can significantly harm your fundraising potential down the line.
Analysis
Funding for climate-tech falls down.
VC funding for climate-tech startups fell over 17% year-over-year in 2024 to $24 bn across 1,314 deals in North America and Europe, marking a third consecutive annual decline and a stark drop from 2021’s $41bn across 1,984 deals the latest data shows. Early-stage rounds, especially Pre-seed and Seed, were particularly hard-hit, with US deals dropping from 246 to 152, signalling a challenging environment for climate-tech startups. What’s driving the shift? The rise of AI appears to be a major contributor, with prominent firms like Greycroft and Kleiner Perkins heavily increasing their AI investments, leaving climate tech behind.
Community
Female Foundry x TechChill Riga 2025
Female Foundry is an official partner of the TechChill Riga taking place on the 6-7 of February in Riga. The complimentary ticket winners are: Fanny (2m1rV5) and Andreea (i011k4). I will get in touch with you shortly. In case the winners can no longer make it to Riga, the tickets will be allocated to whoever entered the survey first.
You can view the draw here.
Hiring
This week hiring:
Findable ➯ Account Executive | Datamaran ➯ Client Advisor | Carmoola ➯ Social-First Marketing Designer | Deverium ➯ Senior Product Designer.
Events this Week
Tuesday, January 28, Amsterdam ➯ Impact Founders Coworking Tuesday | Wednesday, January 29, London ➯ Soft Launch - Female Innovation Index 2025, Paris ➯ Café Entrepreneuriat #1 | Thursday, January 30, London ➯ AI in Science, London ➯ London Fintech Founders Happy Hour.
It’s a busy week ahead! See you next weekend.
Agata
Written by Agata Leliwa Nowicka, the Managing Partner of the Visionaries AI Incubator, an investor, a startup adviser, a two-time entrepreneur based in London.
♡ Thank you Alice for helping out with the research!
Suggestions? Drop me an email.
Check femalefoundry.co for more fundraising tools and investor content. View other Female Foundry articles.