Pivotal Ventures is proud to celebrate significant funding milestones achieved by seven groundbreaking companies and funds in its portfolio during the first quarter of 2025.
From modernizing healthcare systems to expanding access to women's sports, these funds and companies exemplify the impact of Pivotal Ventures’ commitment to address societal challenges by leveraging venture capital funding.
Pivotal Ventures invests in funds and companies where innovation intersects with solutions that help break down the barriers women face today. This commitment stands in contrast to the trends identified in PitchBook’s "2024 US All In" report, which said that companies with at least one woman founder accounted for only 22.7% of total venture capital deals—the lowest rate since 2017. Despite these industry trends, Pivotal Ventures continues to lead the charge in putting more capital in the hands of innovators solving overlooked challenges.
“Seeing our portfolio companies and funds reach these milestones should be a call to action for the venture capital industry. Entrepreneurs and investors who bring new perspectives and different expertise are driving innovation, addressing urgent yet neglected priorities, and generating strong returns.” - Melinda French Gates, Philanthropist and Founder, Pivotal.
A key area of focus for Pivotal Ventures is artificial intelligence (AI), with the company actively investing in businesses harnessing AI to make essential services from healthcare to fintech more efficient and accessible.
In a recent article, Pivotal Ventures asked five industry leaders to identify the 2025 trends in venture capital. At the top of the list: AI. Women entrepreneurs are applying AI in traditionally male-dominated industries, ensuring that these essential advancements benefit everyone.
Here’s a closer look at the most recent fund closes and announcements in 2025.
In February, Little Otter, which is developing AI-powered family mental health services, announced that they raised $9.5 million. Little Otter provides all levels of care from mild to severe, treating both young patients and their families. This holistic approach, leveraging AI-powered assessments, is making high-quality mental healthcare more accessible across the United States.
As women’s health continues to gain momentum in the venture capital industry, Millie’s February announcement of a $12 million Series A funding round underscores the opportunity for innovation in maternal healthcare. This funding enables Millie to expand its AI-enabled technology platform to deliver more patient-centered care.
Ulu Ventures focuses on investing in enterprise and fintech, including many AI-focused startups. In February, they announced a $208 million Fund IV. As the largest Latina-led fund in the U.S., Ulu announced that it has 10 unicorns in its portfolio of high-growth and market-leading information technology and internet companies.
Committed to backing “dangerous founders” who are “great at doing more with less,” Growth Warrior Capital closed its first fund of $26 million in February. Growth Warrior’s focus is start-ups building AI features for a wide range of industries, from insurance and mining to plumbing and recycling.
In March, founder and managing director Stacy Brown Philpot announced that Cherryrock Capital raised $172 million in Fund I. The fund, created to “change the face of wealth creation,” focuses on high-growth companies across five areas: digital health, enterprise SaaS, fintech, future of work, and B2B2C.
Just in time for March Madness, Monarch Collective, a fund with the largest pool of capital exclusively dedicated to women’s sports investment, announced it had expanded its fund by $100 million, to $250 million.
On the last day of Q1, Construct Capital announced it raised $300 million for its third fund. Using an AI-first strategy, Construct is focused on “rebuilding foundational industries” like manufacturing and energy that are the “backbone of GDP” but have been starved for innovative approaches.
Founded by Melinda French Gates in 2015, Pivotal is a group of organizations that work to accelerate the pace of social progress and expand women’s power and influence in the U.S. and around the world. Through high-impact investments, philanthropy, partnerships, and advocacy, Pivotal seeks to remove the barriers that hold women—and all people—back. Pivotal includes Pivotal Ventures, LLC and Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation, a 501(c)(3) private foundation launched in 2022.