Every year, International Women's Day brings the gender gap in entrepreneurship back into focus, and the statistics remain discouraging. Despite growing awareness, women still account for only 13% to 15% of startup founders globally and secure a mere 2% of all venture capital funding.
The traditional high-tech industry reflects a similarly unbalanced picture: women make up just about a quarter of the tech workforce, with even fewer holding core engineering and development roles.
But the current technological wave might just create an entirely new reality.
In recent years, we’ve seen the rapid rise of vertical AI. Rather than building generic software tools, these companies focus on solving deep-rooted, critical problems within specific, traditional industries such as healthcare, real estate, construction, education and human resources.
This shift isn't just technological; it fundamentally changes the DNA of the modern entrepreneur. Historically, startups were built around algorithmic breakthroughs driven by software engineers. Because those professions traditionally attracted men, the pipeline of tech founders naturally was as well.
In the world of vertical AI, however, the competitive advantage isn't just the ability to write complex code - it is deep domain expertise. Today’s most groundbreaking startups are being built by professionals who have lived and breathed their industries: doctors developing data-driven diagnostic tools, insurance experts building automated underwriting systems, and operations managers untangling logistical bottlenecks.
This is exactly where a massive opportunity opens up.
Just this week, it was announced that Smart Shooter, led by Michal Mor - the only female CEO and owner in Israel's defense and weapons tech industry - is going public at a valuation of 900 million shekels. Mor is a cognitive psychologist by training who previously managed guided missile teams at Rafael. Much like in the vertical AI space, her innovation stemmed from an intimate understanding of the field and its specific challenges, rather than a classic coding background.
While female representation lags in traditional high-tech, the landscape of conventional industries looks completely different. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), women make up about 70% of the global healthcare and social work workforce. In education, that figure also exceeds 70%. In global real estate and retail, the numbers sit around 40%, with women occupying a wide range of key leadership roles. When technological solutions are born out of these industries, the pool of potential founders instantly becomes much wider and far more diverse.
The PropTech and construction tech sectors offer a perfect illustration of this trend. Several of the most innovative companies in this space were founded by women who came directly from the field, having identified daily, unresolved challenges.
The design platform Houzz, for example, was founded by Adi Tatarko out of her own frustration with a complex home renovation. EliseAI, an AI property management company, was launched by Minna Song, a software engineer who recognized firsthand just how manual, cumbersome, and in need of automation tenant communication had become. Versatile was founded by Meirav Oren, who grew up in a family of contractors and recognized the critical need for real-time data on active construction sites.
Lior Kantor Photo: Luze PhotographyBeyond industry expertise, artificial intelligence itself is the catalyst completing this revolution. The rise of Large Language Models (LLMs) and No-Code/Low-Code platforms has drastically lowered the barriers to entry, unlocking unprecedented opportunities. Today, a founder who deeply understands a business problem can outline, design, and even build an initial prototype (MVP) for her startup without ever writing a single line of code.
The bottom line
For decades, the startup ecosystem leaned heavily on technological advantages. In the era of vertical AI, the upper hand goes to those who truly understand the problem.
When the competitive edge shifts from tech mastery to deep, practical problem-solving, the pool of potential founders expands dramatically. And in the very industries where these problems exist, women are already leading the way.
Ultimately, the vertical AI revolution and the collapse of technological barriers are changing not just what we build, but who gets to build it. With any luck, we are about to see a much richer, more diverse generation of entrepreneurs.
- The author is a partner at GC Ventures, a venture capital fund investing in PropTech and construction tech companies.