There are several ways to define an emerging manager in venture capital; one is that they’ve raised three or fewer funds. Female Founders Fund, Anu Duggal’s firm that backs women-founded companies, just closed its fourth fund, Fortune is the first to report. By that measure, investing in female founders is no longer considered “emerging.”
It’s a notable milestone; Duggal says when she was launching the fund a decade ago, she was told that fewer than 15% of managers make it to fund four. For a solo female GP, that stat is infinitesimal. Then came a prolonged market downturn which some of the founders in Female Founders Fund’s portfolio didn’t make it through. “Unless you’re a Sequoia or General Catalyst, it’s been a rough few years,” she says.
The fourth fund is $29 million, which Duggal raised between November 2023 and this month. It brings Female Founders Fund’s total capital under management to $140 million across five funds, including a $14 million opportunity fund. (By dollar amount, the firm would likely still be considered emerging.) LPs in the newest fund include firms headed by notable women: Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Ventures, Olivia Walton’s Ingeborg Investments, and the Anne Wojcicki Foundation.
