Female Founders Fund Research
Investment Thesis
Female Founders Fund (FFF) was founded in 2014 with a single, powerful belief: women will build the companies of tomorrow. The fund addresses a fundamental market inefficiency—despite representing 56% of the professional workforce and starting businesses at 1.5x the national average, female founders received only 2-2.7% of venture capital dollars at the fund's inception. The fund's core thesis rests on empirical evidence: companies with female founders perform 63% better than their male peers (First Round Capital), and female-founded companies deliver 2.5x more revenue per dollar invested compared to male-founded peers.
FFF invests in exceptional female leaders building category-defining businesses across technology and deep tech sectors. The fund operates as a true ecosystem, not just a capital provider, creating a visible platform through podcasts (The Two Percent), CEO summits, research reports, and the acclaimed annual Camp FFF event.
Investment Focus Areas
Female Founders Fund explicitly targets five major investment categories:
Digital Healthcare: AI-powered diagnostics, care coordination, and telehealth platforms that improve care accessibility and reduce costs. Early examples include Maven Clinic (women's health unicorn).
AI-First Vertical Software: Specialized AI applications for underserved industries, creating defensible moats in retail, hardware, and climate tech sectors.
Consumer Products & Ecommerce: Science-backed innovation with AI-driven personalization and direct-to-consumer business models. Portfolio includes Billie (women's razor brand, acquired by Edgewell for $310M), WinkyLux, and Rent the Runway.
Pet Tech: Products for pet parents within the $190B market, leveraging AI for health monitoring and personalized care (portfolio company Wagmo).
Deep Tech: Frontier technologies in aerospace, robotics, and advanced materials, led by technical founders applying AI to dual-use applications. FFF now has companies building cars and planes in their portfolio.
Stage Focus and Check Size
Female Founders Fund is explicitly an early-stage investor, with a primary focus on pre-seed and seed rounds. Based on research:
- Seed stage: $500K-$1M typical investment
- Pre-seed: $250K-$500K typical range
- Series A follow-ons: Selective participation in strong performers
The fund maintains significant flexibility in check size based on founder quality and company potential, investing anywhere from $250K for exceptional pre-seed teams to $2M+ for strong seed-stage opportunities.
Lead Tendency
FFF has evolved from a pure seed investor to a co-investor and occasional lead. In recent portfolio activity (2025), the fund continues to participate in seed rounds and occasionally leads rounds in their core thesis areas. They are more likely to follow other quality investors but will lead rounds where they have deep domain conviction. The fund's approach is collaborative—they frequently co-invest with quality partners and prioritize founder relationships over control.
Fund History and Performance
Female Founders Fund has achieved remarkable milestones:
Fund Status: Just closed Fund IV ($29M) in December 2025, bringing total AUM to $140M across five funds (including a $14M opportunity fund). This represents significant growth from the original $5.85M Fund I.
Exits: Three nine-figure exits that validate the thesis:
- Billie (women's razors): Acquired by Edgewell for $310M
- Eloquii (plus-size fashion): Acquired by Walmart
- BentoBox (restaurant software): Acquired by Fiserv
Fund I Return: In 2024, FFF returned its first fund, demonstrating discipline around capital return and LP fiduciary responsibility.
Recent Activity: Fund IV's first investment was 831 Stories (romance publishing platform), announced late 2025. The fund continues deploying from Fund IV after November 2023 launch.
Portfolio Characteristics
Female Founders Fund has invested in 100+ companies since 2014, with particularly strong depth in:
- Consumer brands: Billie, WinkyLux, Rent the Runway (Jennifer Hyman), ThrivGlobal (Arianna Huffington)
- Healthcare: Maven Clinic (Katherine Ryder), The Lanby, OuLa, Kama, Kindra (women's health focus)
- Fintech: Tala (Shivani Siroya), mobile money and financial inclusion
- Fashion & E-commerce: Eloquii (Mariah Chase), Ceremonia, Violette FR
- Food & Beverage: Milkbar (Christina Tosi), Local Bushel, Compound Foods
- B2B/Enterprise: Rising Team, Reaction Commerce, LearnLux, Landit
Notable diversity in portfolio stage at investment:
- Many investments were at pre-seed/seed when founders had just ideas or early product
- Some follow-on investments in strong performers like Maven and Tala
- Increasing activity in deep tech and aerospace (reflecting expanded thesis)
Founder Profile and Decision Making
Founder Preferences: FFF explicitly seeks female founders with:
- Category-defining vision and market insight
- Strong track records or exceptional backgrounds
- Authentic point of view to challenge and reshape markets
- Diversity of experience (not limited to traditional tech backgrounds)
Decision Process: Solo GP model with Anu Duggal making final investment decisions. Team (Julie Cerick, Zabreen Khan, Layla Alexander) supports due diligence, portfolio support, and ecosystem building. Decisions are made collaboratively but decisively.
Decision Timeline: Estimated 2-4 weeks for strong opportunities. FFF values founder relationships and can move quickly for the right founders.
Warm Introduction: Strongly preferred. FFF sources significant deal flow from their ecosystem (portfolio founders, LP network, Camp FFF attendees) and partner relationships.
Recent Market Activity
Fund IV Launch: Between November 2023 and December 2025, FFF raised $29M for Fund IV from prominent LPs including:
- Melinda French Gates' Pivotal Ventures
- Olivia Walton's Ingeborg Investments
- Anne Wojcicki Foundation
- Other women-led/women-founded investment vehicles
Market Position: By Duggal's own assessment, fewer than 15% of solo female GPs make it to fund four. FFF's achievement is particularly notable given the challenging 2023-2024 market downturn that impacted some portfolio companies.
Vision: Anu Duggal's stated goal is to deploy $500M into female-founded companies over the next decade, positioning FFF as a major force in diversity-driven venture capital.
Ecosystem and Value-Add
Beyond capital, FFF provides:
Community & Events: Annual Camp FFF brings together portfolio and non-portfolio founders, investors, and advisors. The Two Percent podcast features founder interviews and industry insights.
Platform Building: FFF actively sources deal flow from portfolio founder networks, creating a flywheel where successful founders mentor and introduce new founders.
Thought Leadership: Published research (2025 Review of Funding for Female Founders) and regular media appearances by Duggal on fund performance, female founder metrics, and diversity in venture.
Operational Support: Team actively supports portfolio companies during scaling, fundraising, and market challenges.
Team
Anu Duggal (Founding Partner): Serial entrepreneur and venture investor. Co-founded Exclusively.in (private sale e-commerce, backed by Accel & Tiger, acquired by Myntra). 40 Under 40 Fortune honoree (2018). Board member/observer at Maven Clinic, Eloquii, Landit, WinkyLux, and The Rubin Museum. MBA from London Business School, BA from Vassar.
Julie Cerick (Head of Platform): Joined FFF in 2025 from Alpaca VC (platform initiatives). Previously at Kickstarter and Vox Media Group. BA from Elon University. Leads brand strategy, content (podcast/blog), and community/Camp FFF.
Zabreen Khan (Principal): Forbes 30 Under 30 VC (2024). Previously investor at Phenomenal Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz, growth investor at Lead Edge Capital. Former Meta Global Sales & Business Development. Co-founder of HerCapital (financial literacy nonprofit). BA from Stanford, MBA from Harvard. TEDx speaker.
Layla Alexander (Associate): Goldman Sachs Real Estate Investing Team (underwriting/due diligence). Interned with Harlem Capital, Google, Cleo Capital. BA in Economics from Columbia. Leadership roles in Columbia Organization for Rising Entrepreneurs (CORE) and Columbia University Black Pre-Professional Society.
Geographic Focus
Primarily United States-focused with emphasis on:
- New York (HQ location)
- San Francisco Bay Area
- Los Angeles
- Other major US tech hubs
Female Founders Fund attracts founders from across the US and internationally, though US-based or US-expanding founders are priority.
Investment Style and Values
Founder-Centric: FFF explicitly positions itself as "on the ground, hustling alongside" founders. Not passive investors.
Ecosystem-Driven: Deal sourcing heavily weighted toward community recommendations and referrals from existing portfolio.
Diversity Beyond Gender: While focused on female founders, FFF portfolio shows investment across racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and sector diversity.
Evidence-Based: Decisions grounded in research showing female founder outperformance and diversity-driven returns.
Long-Term: Returned Fund I in 2024 despite market challenges, demonstrating long-term value creation focus.
Market Outlook
As of late 2025, FFF is positioned as the largest early-stage fund investing exclusively in female-founded companies, with institutional credibility demonstrated by Fund IV's high-quality LP base. The fund is aggressively deploying capital and building to their $500M decade-long vision. Duggal remains a visible thought leader on diversity in venture capital.