SA国际传媒

When and Glossier were both valued at $1 billion within the same week, they became the joint poster children for valuable female companies that could score returns. Extra points for being twin unicorns.

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But SA国际传媒 data indicates that those two valuations are more than impressive one-offs. In fact, 2019 is tracking to becoming a historic year for female-founded unicorns. 聽While still rare, they鈥檙e being born at an unprecedented rate.

For context, last year there were 12 unicorns born that had at least one female founder, globally. Less than half way into 2019, 10 female-founded companies have become unicorns.

The chart below shows how many companies with at least one female founder passed the $1 billion in valuation mark each year, starting in 2005. 1

The 2019 list includes the following companies: , , , , ezCater, , Glossier, Horizon Robotics, , and .

What Founders Say

The first female-founded company to gain unicorn status this year was FabFitFun, which sells lifestyle subscription boxes to women. We caught up with the founder, , who has advice for fellow companies on this list: partner with other women. 聽

鈥淲hen we do look at the landscape, and categories and fashion, which are obviously female consumer driven, who鈥檚 running those businesses today?鈥� she said. 鈥淭he majority are still older white men.鈥�

With FabFitFun, she said she made it a point to 鈥渋ntentionally seek out people who don鈥檛 fit that mold鈥� to partner with for products. That intentionality, she said, has been powerful.

When it comes to applying that same perspective to investors in her company, she has fewer options since VCs still skew male.

鈥淥n one hand, it鈥檚 really important to brands to just find the best fit of [someone] who understands the company, no matter what the gender is,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut naturally, there鈥檚 a little bit of tension here because there are less female VCs than male VCs.鈥�

That tension has its impact. Last quarter, for example, only 17 percent of venture capital dollars were invested in companies with at least one female founder. Of that, 2 percent was invested in companies with only female founders.

Other than being a unicorn, and female-founded, Glossier and Rent the Runway were rare because they were also female-focused companies. Let鈥檚 look at some companies that aren鈥檛.

Widening The Scope

Other companies on our female-founded list, like Grab and ezCater focus on ride-hailing, or catering, respectively.

Grab co-founder, , said that 鈥済ood ideas and innovation can come from anybody and from all corners of the globe.鈥� She explained how Grab, for example, was founded along with . The idea for the company grew from the need for a reliable solution for women to travel late at night in Malaysia. That concept has since grown.

鈥淕rab has moved beyond transport to become the region鈥檚 leading super app, offering payments, financial services, food delivery, parcel delivery and a whole suite of other services to millions in Southeast Asia,鈥� she said.

While she said that the focus of Grab has always been beyond gender, more than 40 percent of its workforce is women.

, CEO of , told me that 鈥渙n paper, VCs will fund women-led companies,鈥� she said. In person is when the bias pops up, she said.

Referring to a , Vosmek said she still worries that even the 鈥榗lick of the heels鈥� of a female founder walking into a room can sway VCs to have bias.

Quartz, a business publication, 聽recently listed the top 10 biggest companies that have gone public or filed. According to its ranking,

None of the companies on the list have been led by a woman. The most women on any executive team or corporate board is three, according to S-1 filings, the story outlines.

It鈥檚 a small reminder that while indicators of progress are peeking out, we are still working toward a world where wearing heels, and scoring venture capital aren鈥檛 mutually exclusive.

Illustration: .