Halogen Ventures surpasses 100 investments in female-founded startups

Halogen Ventures has passed 100 investments in female-founded startups, with a portfolio it says is worth more than US$15bn.

The portfolio, which the firm says is one of the largest in the US dedicated to backing female founders, is 100 per cent female-founded and 85 per cent female CEO-led.

It spans consumer technology, healthcare, fintech, AI and what the firm calls the Future of Family.

The profile now includes six unicorn companies, each valued at more than US$1bn.

They include Everlywell, the at-home health testing company valued at US$3.5bn, Flex, a period care brand and Upwards, a childcare platform with more than 66,000 in-home childcare options for families.

Jesse Draper, founding partner of Halogen Ventures, said: “When I started Halogen, I heard the same thing over and over ‘there aren’t enough women starting companies,’ ‘it’s not a big enough market.’

“People were skeptical, to put it mildly. For years investing in women was dismissed as a charity play rather than recognised as a massive, untapped market.

“We saw the opportunity over a decade ago when almost no one else did. Over one hundred investments and six unicorns later, and counting, the results speak for themselves.”

In addition to identifying high-growth startups, Halogen says it has helped define emerging venture categories such as what it calls the Future of Family, a market it estimates has a US$7.5 trillion global opportunity spanning childcare, education, healthcare and workplace flexibility.

The milestone comes at a notable time for women in technology.

Female-founded companies in the US collectively raised a record US$73.6bn in 2025, accounting for 27.7 per cent of total annual US deal value.

However, much of that funding flowed into a small number of AI companies, and startups founded solely by women continued to capture just over 1 per cent of total venture capital dollars, a figure that has barely shifted in a decade.

The childcare sector alone is said to represent a US$520bn global industry, yet innovation in the space has historically been underfunded.