All Raise: ~18% of US VC firms have one or more female partners, double from 2018; PitchBook says female founders secured ~28% of total US deal value in 2023
- Advocacy group reports women partners are part of more firms — All Raise CEO says progress at risk from diversity criticisms
Context & Ripple Effects
All Raise began as an effort to raise women’s share of venture funding and partner roles; early coverage showed that most firms still lacked a woman partner even as senior appointments increased. The latest figures show measurable movement from that low base, while leaving representation far from universal.
The story also links firm-level decision-making to capital allocation: PitchBook’s measure of deal value going to female founders provides a second indicator alongside partner representation. The CEO’s warning makes clear that this progress is being assessed amid criticism of diversity initiatives.
First-order effects
- All Raise’s data sets a new benchmark for U.S. VC-firm representation: more firms now include a female partner than in the organization’s earlier tracking, when roughly three-quarters of firms had no female partners.
- The reported founder funding share gives limited partners, fund managers, and founders a comparable measure of how capital is reaching female-led companies, alongside the partner-role data.
Second-order effects
- VC firms face clearer pressure to show whether senior-hiring gains are broad-based rather than isolated appointments, especially because the share of firms without female partners remained high in All Raise’s 2019 tally.
- Debate over diversity programs could make progress less durable: firms may need to defend or redesign recruiting and advancement practices rather than treat representation targets as settled.
Third-order effects
- If partner diversity continues to expand, the venture industry’s investment committees may become less homogeneous, potentially changing which founder networks and markets receive attention; the reported funding share alone does not establish that causal link.
- The pattern points to representation becoming an ongoing governance and accountability metric for venture firms, but the backlash described here could slow or reverse gains without sustained institutional commitment.
The trend: Venture capital is gradually broadening who holds decision-making roles, while political and cultural resistance is testing whether those gains become embedded.