Pitching her AI-powered insurance-claims product to venture capitalists in the Bay Area, Sri Ramaswamy expected questions about the technology, and her growth plan. Instead, she was asked: “Who else is on your team?” One funder said: “If you had a white male CEO, you would get a check.”
Ramaswamy is among hundreds of immigrant female founders in the U.S. whose journey is very different from that of their male peers. Even as their numbers rise, female founders received only about 2% of all venture capital funding last year, according to data firm Crunchbase — a figure that has remained constant for years. There is no data for immigrant women founders.
“We face both racism and sexism,” Ramaswamy told Rest of World. “The men are asked, ‘If we give you $5 million, where can you take the company?’ I was asked, ‘What if you fail?’ I began to doubt myself.”
Immigrant female founders face a compounding bias because they’re often navigating sexism and racism at the same time.”
Artificial intelligence companies secured about $211 billion in 2025, or half of all global venture capital. Companies with at least one female founder received about 20% of the total, Crunchbase data showed. While making up more than a quarter of startups, female-only companies in the U.S. fare badly compared to other regions, with those in Latin America getting about 4% of funding and those in Africa getting 5%.
