Even when companies with mixed-gender founding teams are included, startups involving women attracted just over 12% of global venture funding.

These are still among the most striking imbalances in the global startup economy.

But the funding gap doesn’t reveal the lot happening across sectors such as finance, healthcare, artificial intelligence, mobility and digital commerce. Women entrepreneurs are building companies that address everyday problems, including saving money, accessing diagnostics, paying school fees or commuting to work. 

Many of these businesses are growing quietly but steadily, creating new markets and improving access to essential services.

As the world marks International Women’s Day (IWD 2026), the economic focus has gone beyond asking if women are entering business, but where they are touching and bolstering entire sectors.

Fintech: expanding access to money

Financial technology has become one of the most visible areas where women are building scalable companies.

In Nigeria, PiggyVest, co-founded by Odunayo Eweniyi, has grown into one of the country’s most widely used savings and investment platforms. The service allows users to automate savings and invest small amounts through a mobile app. For many youths, it has become a simple entry point into personal finance.

Eweniyi is also a co-founder of FirstCheck Africa, an investment fund created to provide early-stage funding for female-led technology startups across the continent.

Another Nigerian fintech platform attracting attention is Bamboo, where Yanmo Omorogbe serves as co-founder and chief operating officer. Bamboo allows Nigerians to buy and trade U.S. stocks directly from their phones, a service that has received strong demand from young investors seeking exposure to global markets.

Elsewhere on the continent, women are building platforms focused on financial inclusion.

Shecluded, founded by Ifeoma Uddoh, provides loans and financial training to female entrepreneurs. The platform supports women who usually find access to credit from traditional banks difficult.

Another example is Hervest, founded by Solape Akinpelu, which offers savings and investment products designed specifically for African women, including smallholder farmers.

At the grassroots level, social enterprise Mamamoni, created by Nkem Okocha, provides microloans and vocational training for women in low-income communities.

Taken together, these platforms illustrate how fintech innovation in Africa is addressing financial behaviour such as saving, investing and accessing credit, rather than simply digitising traditional banking.

Health technology: solving long-ignored healthcare gaps

Healthcare is another sector where women entrepreneurs are building companies around problems that were usually overlooked by traditional investors.

In Nigeria, Healthtracka, founded by Ifeoluwa Dare‑Johnson, allows users to book laboratory tests online and receive diagnostic results digitally. The company raised $1.5 million in seed funding to expand its services across Africa. 

Simplifying access to diagnostics, Healthtracka is tackling one of the toughest gaps in African healthcare systems.

Another Nigerian startup in the space is Clafiya, founded by Jennie Nwokoye. The platform connects patients with verified healthcare providers, offering digital access to medical consultations and services.

Pharmaceutical access is being addressed by Pharmarun, founded by Teniola Adedeji, which helps people locate and finance prescription medications across African markets.

Meanwhile, One Health, founded by Adeola Alli, is building a mobile-first platform that simplifies pharmacy services and access to primary healthcare.

Globally, women founders are also building large digital health companies.

U.S. platform Maven Clinic, founded by Katherine Ryder, provides virtual care services covering pregnancy, fertility and family health. The company has reached a valuation above $1 billion.

Another fast-growing health company is Kindbody, founded by physician Gina Bartasi, which operates fertility clinics and digital reproductive health platforms.

These businesses show how women founders are turning neglected healthcare challenges into scalable technology markets.

Enterprise software and artificial intelligence

The technology sector is male-dominated, particularly in enterprise software and artificial intelligence. But then several women entrepreneurs have built companies at the centre of the digital economy.

One of the most interesting examples is Canva, co-founded by Melanie Perkins. The platform has grown into one of the world’s most widely used design tools, serving more than 150 million users globally.

Another example from the AI sector is Scale AI, co-founded by Lucy Guo, which provides data infrastructure used to train artificial intelligence systems.

These companies operate deep inside the digital economy, building the tools and infrastructure that other businesses rely on.

Mobility and urban transport

Women founders are also addressing everyday urban problems, particularly transportation in fast-growing cities.

In Nigeria, Shuttlers, founded by Damilola Olokesusi, operates a scheduled bus-sharing platform designed to reduce commuting stress in cities such as Lagos. 

The company allows users to book bus seats through a mobile app and has raised more than $5 million in funding to expand its operations.

Urban mobility is one of the biggest challenges in rapidly expanding African cities. Platforms like Shuttlers provide structured alternatives to chaotic public transport systems.

Logistics and cross-border commerce

eCommerce is expanding across Africa, and logistics startups are becoming more important.

Sendsprint, founded by Damisi Busari, focuses on simplifying cross-border remittances and international payments.

Meanwhile, Fez Delivery, founded by Seun Alley, is building last-mile delivery infrastructure for businesses and consumers across African cities.

Logistics companies like these are the backbone of digital commerce, connecting online marketplaces to physical deliveries.

Education technology and financial literacy

Education financing is another area where women founders are developing new solutions.

Schoolable, co-founded by Angela Essien, provides financing tools that allow families and schools to spread tuition payments over time. The company has also developed digital tools that teach financial literacy to students.

Across many African countries, school fees sometimes limit education. Flexible financing platforms like Schoolable are attempting to solve that problem.

The funding paradox

Looking beyond these good works, women founders still receive a small share of venture capital.

Data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor shows that women are launching businesses at rates close to men in many parts of the world.

However, access to capital is uneven. Across Africa, female-founded startups raised about $256 million in venture funding in 2025, representing 10% of the continent’s total equity investment, according to research from Partech Partners.

Part of the explanation is within the investment industry itself. Women still hold fewer than one-fifth of senior roles in venture capital firms globally.

Investment networks usually affect who receives funding, and those networks are dominated by men.

The industries women may transform next

Several emerging sectors could see stronger participation from women entrepreneurs in the coming years.

Artificial intelligence applications in healthcare and education are expanding, and climate technology, covering renewable energy, environmental monitoring and sustainable agriculture, is also attracting attention.

Another fast-growing field is the care economy, which includes childcare services, elder care and home healthcare.

With populations ageing and cities expanding, these sectors are likely to become indispensable to the global economy.

A change already underway

The venture capital gap is real and women founders still receive a small share of global startup investment.

But the companies they are building are doing exploits, solving problems that affect millions of people.

The change may not always be broadcasted, but across multiple industries, it is already enhancing markets.

Women are not simply joining the startup economy, but are helping determine what it becomes.

By early 2025, the company, with a goal to place one million e-bicycles on African roads by 2030, had dismissed most of its 50 employees across departments. 

Internal documents sent to staff in February cited “a substantial decline in revenue, extremely high cost of operations, an unsustainable employee wage bill, and restructuring of the business to adopt a leaner, more efficient structure.”

Barely 10 employees remained after the first round of layoffs, but they too left by mid-year. “We understand that this news is difficult, and we share in the sadness of having to take these steps,” the company wrote in its redundancy notice. 

“Please know that we are doing everything we can to minimize the impact of these layoffs, and that the decision is driven solely by the need to ensure the company’s sustainability in the face of the current economic climate.”

This reveals a challenge in Kenya’s e-mobility market, where delivery riders and commuters are opting for electric motorbikes instead of bicycles. Riders point to cost and power. 

eBee’s eBX model, priced at KES 99,999 ($774) or about KES 9,500 ($74) per month on lease, remains far out of reach for the very workers it targeted, such as boda boda operators. Even with financing options, demand never picked up.

The company’s problems increased when the Tax Appeals Tribunal ruled against it in February 2025 in a dispute with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). eBee had declared its imports as parts for local assembly, which would attract a 10% duty, but regulators disagreed. 

The tribunal ruled the shipments were fully built electric bicycles, subjecting them to a 25% import duty, 16% VAT, and an excise duty of KES 10,520 per unit. The decision left eBee with an additional tax bill of KES 2.78 million ($20,857).

The ruling stressed that the motor, not the battery, is the key defining part of an electric bicycle. eBee’s claim that sourcing batteries locally qualified its products as “assembled in Kenya” was dismissed. 

Industry watchers warn the case could set a precedent for other electric mobility firms, including BasiGo, Ampersand, and Spiro, which also rely on importing parts.

eBee, however, says it is not shutting down. In a written statement, the startup said it “remains operational and focused on serving customers and partners” while maintaining warranty and after-sales services. It also noted a “renewed strategy to strengthen commercial traction and ensure sustainable growth,” but gave no details on which locations were being merged or what form the strategy would take.

Founded in 2021 by Sten Van Der Ham, Jaap Maljers, Isidoor Maljers, and Joost Boeles, eBee built its brand on assembling and leasing e-bikes for courier companies such as Jumia, Glovo, and Bolt. 

The startup also expanded into Uganda and Rwanda through partnerships. Models like the Nyuki cargo bike, retailing at KES 119,999, were marketed for last-mile delivery.

But the timing worked against it. Kenya’s EV adoption remains weak. By mid-2025, only 671 electric vehicles were officially registered, nearly half of them motorcycles. A report by ALN Kenya has already called for clearer tax guidelines, incentives, and stronger public-private partnerships to prevent more startups from folding under regulatory and financial pressure.

Leadership changes have added more tension. In March, CEO and co-founder Sten Van Der Ham resigned, weeks after the company lost its tax dispute. His departure revealed the fragility of a business once seen as a pioneer in Africa’s clean mobility revolution.