Between 2011 and 2021, EUR84.5 billion were invested by Europe-based Venture Capitalist (VCs) firms on European start-ups. That's a massive amount - more than the GDP of Luxembourg last year.

Yet, the startup landscape remains a very unequal one. The absolute majority of money (around 90%) was invested by all-male or majority-male VC teams in all-male or male-majority start-ups. Here, all-male or majority-male VC/startup teams refer to those teams where top management is 55%+ male.

Less than 5% of funding went to all-female or female-majority start-ups. 

Why does this matter? Startups often push new, disruptive, innovative and cutting-edge technologies and ideas. If the startups applying and getting funding are not diverse, that risks perpetuating systemic biases, limiting the ideas being put forward, and omitting whole markets from being included.