To Raise Capital, Female Founders ‘Must Not Be Afraid to Do Things Differently’

The way Anna Sweeting, founder of the U.K.-based investment firm The Equity Studio, sees it: “Money is power, and we shouldn’t be shy to talk about that.” So she said at the 2025 WWD x FN x Beauty Inc Women in Power conference, in conversation with Jefferies’ managing director of beauty and wellness investment banking, Sasha Radic, moderated by WWD senior beauty editor Kathryn Hopkins. “Women dominate consumption from a purchase-decision perspective; we make up 80 percent of creators with more than 50,000 followers on social media platforms, and we are going to be dominating social commerce,” she continued. And yet, “the [gender] disparity in funding is still present at the very start.” Indeed, while women founders have historically received a fraction of the funding of their male counterparts, the landscape today looks increasingly precarious. In 2024, Pitchbook reported the share of total VC deal value for start-ups with a female cofounder dipped for the first time since 2020. “While women get very little funding, they are exceptional operators. They are exceptionally successful when they do get capital — more successful, even, than men,” said Radic, adding, “what has given me a little bit of optimism is the success [women founders] have

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