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In honor of International Women鈥檚 Day, we analyzed the biggest deals that female-led companies scored so far in 2019. We didn鈥檛 plan on leaving out the United States, but it turns out that the top deals were actually scored by international ventures (which was equally interesting to us).

From Finland to Singapore to China, we found over $8 billion in funding has gone to women-led companies in 2019 so far.

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Even though we’re seeing billions being invested into companies with female founders or co-founders, it’s worth noting that those totals pale in comparison to funding totals for startups with only male founders. And while there is more to come on that note, let鈥檚 first highlight the top five women-led companies that have raised so far this year.

Finland: RELEX Solutions

Solutions, a Finish supply chain optimization company, scored $200 million dollars in investment from Bay Area鈥檚(TCV), showing that women-led companies can compete for cash in high tech, STEM fields.

, one of the company鈥檚 three founders, told 附近上门 News that her company began with a focus on automatic store replenishment. She said she wanted to take the 鈥渉ands off鈥� of filling shelves, restocking items and taking inventory. It then grew to cover the entire supply chain process, including workforce optimization.

TCV鈥檚 vote of confidence in the company emphasizes how the retail market is evolving, as retailers have to operate an online-digital world and competition continues to stiffen.

鈥淏ecause that鈥檚 basically what TCV does…they look for business areas ripe for change, and as we all know, a lot of things are going on in retail in the moment,鈥� Smaros told me on a call in her office from Finland.

The new funding round will help the company hire more data scientists and developers, specifically in the United States, which she said is the company鈥檚 鈥渂iggest growth market.鈥�

Singapore: Zilingo

, a Singapore-based fashion company, landed $226 million in February in a round led by . 聽The deal brought Zilingo鈥檚 total funding to $308 million, the company said. Especially noteworthy is the fact that company founder , who used to work for Sequoia India, is the first Indian woman founder-CEO of a unicorn, according to .

Since starting in Singapore, the company has expanded to Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, India, Hong Kong, Australia, and the United States. Zilingo is currently working diligently on its expansion in the Philippines and Australia, Bose told me. Additionally, it is investing in the 鈥渋nfrastructure and technology鈥� needed to 鈥渄igitise the fashion and beauty supply chain,鈥� she said.

China: DaDa and Horizon Robotics

厂丑补苍驳丑补颈鈥檚 , led by co-founders and , is an e-tutoring for English that led by .

Fellow unicorn Beijing-based , a Chinese AI semiconductor valued at up to $3 billion, also scored a Series B round of $600 million last month. Two of the company鈥檚 co-founders are women: and .

The Horizon Robotics round was led by, , and several other automotive groups. While technically a Series B, the round was large enough to constitute several Series B-focused funds, as we reported in February.

Singapore: Grab

Finally, we look at a company we鈥檝e written about extensively and tops the list with the largest cash infusion: Grab. The company was responsible for three of the biggest funding rounds for female-led companies so far this year. In fact, this week the Singapore-based ride-hailing company scored $1.46 billion from SoftBank Vision Fund.

United States: Confluent And Andela

As far as our home turf鈥攚e did see some impressive capital this year. Top deals scored for U.S.-based companies with female leadership include, which raised a Series D of $125 million from , and , which raised a Series D (the same day) of $100 million, led by .

It Could Be Better

Despite the statistics and venture capital funds make to be better, the data still tells us that the number of VC-backed startups founded by women is staying 聽鈥渟tubbornly stagnant.鈥�

In the wise (paraphrased) words of , change may only come when venture capitalists are convinced that women founders can bring in money. (I highly recommend checking out featuring here.)

(Note: I’d love to write more about women and diversity within the tech industry, so if you want to chat you can reach me at natasha@crunchbase.com)

From the venture capitalist perspective, this has always been a challenge. Finding the investors who want to back 鈥渦nderserved鈥� founders is hard, said , the managing director of .

On a personal level, Francetic said her biggest allies when starting her own firm were the backers who loved the idea of a female-led, midwest, energy fund. These were selling points, not dealbreakers, she said.

Interestingly, it helped that her fund was in Chicago instead of Silicon Valley.

鈥淲e were outside the echo-chamber鈥� we can provide a level of rationality that isn鈥檛 heavily influenced by the community of folks over there,鈥� she said. Their fund is actively looking for female-led companies to invest in within the energy space. And by 鈥渁ctively looking鈥� I mean that Amy said if you鈥檙e reading this and fit that definition, e-mail her.

To circle back to 鈥檚 podcast, Hamilton believes that people who have perfectly good ideas aren鈥檛 getting funded because they don鈥檛 look like Mark Zuckerberg. These underestimated founders, Hamilton said, will bring big returns. Thankfully, some investors agree.

Editorial update:聽A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that ImpactAlpha raised $100 million. The reference has been removed.

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