Only about one in five tech companies across Europe created between 2020 and 2025 included at least one woman founder, according to the European Commission’s The Gender Investment Gap report.

Even when adjusting for this disparity, companies with female founders also received less investment than firms with male founders.

The highest levels of gender diversity were found in Latvia, at 27%, Italy, at 25.9 %, and Portugal, at 25.2%. These rates represent the proportion of companies with at least one female founder.

In contrast, countries such as the Czech Republic (9%) and Hungary (14.4%) remain well below the European average (19.3%).

Equal participation by women entrepreneurs could increase EU GDP by approximately €600 billion, with countries like Poland seeing growth of 1.6% and the Netherlands up to 5.5% by 2040, according to the 2025 Frontier Economics study.

The gender investment gap refers to systematic disparities between women and men in accessing venture capital and participating in investment decision-making.

Among European small and medium-sized enterprises applying for bank loans, female-owned firms report loan-approval rates about five percentage points lower than male-owned firms. That’s even after controlling for age, size, and sector, according to the European Investment Bank.

Gender disparities also extend to capital ownership and investment behaviour, as data shows women are investing less in retail assets.

Female retail investors currently control about €5.7 trillion in Europe, a figure projected to rise to €9.8 trillion by 2030. If women invested on a parity basis with men, Europe could mobilise an additional €2 to €3 trillion in private investable assets.

“These findings point to an EU-wide economic shortfall well into the hundreds of billions of euros annually – capital that could otherwise be fuelling innovation, employment, green – and digital transitions,” the EC report stated.

What is behind this gender gap?

The gender investment gap has been put down to differences in risk appetite between men and women, as well as societal expectations and financial education.

Historically, entrepreneurship and venture finance have been male-coded domains associated with risk-taking, assertiveness, and individualism.

Decision-making bodies in venture capital and private equity remain male-dominated, reinforcing existing investment patterns.

Societal expectations around women’s caregiving roles and work-life balance continue to influence their access to entrepreneurial networks and capital.

According to the European Commission’s report, even in societies perceived as egalitarian, such as Nordic countries, the assumption that gender equality has already been achieved “can itself act as a barrier – masking ongoing structural biases”.

Across Europe, women also face a “double exclusion” of gender and geography.

European venture capital is mainly based in hubs in London, Paris, Berlin, and Stockholm, which leaves founders in Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe structurally disadvantaged.

Vladimir Putin on Thursday expressed interest in using President Trump’s peace plan as a negotiating departure point to end the nearly four-year war between Ukraine and Russia.

“We need to sit down and discuss this seriously,” Putin told reporters at the end of a three-day visit to Kyrgyzstan, according to an Associated Press report. He added, “Every word matters.”

Putin described U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan as “a set of issues put forward for discussion” rather than a draft agreement.

RUSSIA WARNS IT MAY REJECT US-UKRAINE PEACE PLAN IF IT FAILS TO UPHOLD ALASKA SUMMIT ‘UNDERSTANDINGS’

“If Ukrainian troops withdraw from the territories they occupy, hostilities will cease. If they don’t withdraw, we will achieve this by force,” the Russian strongman said.

Andy Barr, R-Ky., a House Foreign Affairs Committee member, told Fox News Digital the situation reinforces the need for strong American leadership. “Russia invaded Ukraine because Joe Biden was the weakest president in American history.”

Barr, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Kentucky said, “President Trump’s peace-through-strength leadership kept Putin fully contained. This war never would have happened under his watch. Trump is the peace president… the only leader who can end this war and bring stability back to Europe.”

However, Putin critics believe he is seeking to trick the U.S. and the European Union.

The former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, who predicted Putin’s jingoism and invasion of Ukraine, told the Polish international news network TVP that “Peace under Putin is unachievable for one simple reason: Putin is war — and Russia is gearing up for even more.”

Kasparov has also criticized NATO, Trump and the EU for failing to defend Ukraine and evict Russia from Ukraine’s entire territory.

“We owe them everything,” Kasparov recently said about Ukraine at the Halifax International Security Forum.

MOMENTUM BUILDS IN UKRAINE PEACE PUSH, BUT EXPERTS FEAR PUTIN WON’T BUDGE

Kremlin officials have had little to say so far about the peace plan put forward last week by Trump. Putin has been recalcitrant about accepting previous Trump plans to end the war.

Putin has demanded that Ukraine completely withdraw from the entirety of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions before Russia considers any sort of “peace negotiations” — notably including areas of each of those oblasts that Russia does not occupy. He also wants to keep Ukraine from joining NATO and hosting any Western troops, allowing Moscow to gradually pull the country back into its orbit.

The Institute for the Study of War on Wednesday cast doubt on Russian claims that its invasion is unstoppable as it is still struggling to capture cities in the eastern Donetsk region.

“Data on Russian forces’ rate of advance indicates that a Russian military victory in Ukraine is not inevitable, and a rapid Russian seizure of the rest of Donetsk Oblast is not imminent,” the Washington-based think tank said. “Recent Russian advances elsewhere on the front line have largely been opportunistic and exploited seasonal weather conditions.

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U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is set to visit Moscow next week, the Kremlin says, while U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who in recent weeks has played a high-profile role in the peace efforts, may be heading to Kyiv.   

The initial U.S. peace proposal was criticized for being skewed toward Russian demands, but an amended version emerged from talks in Geneva on Sunday between American and Ukrainian officials. Sidelined European leaders, fearing for their own security amid Russian aggression, are angling for deeper involvement in the process.

The Associated Press and Fox News Digital’s Efrat Lachter contributed to this report.