Biz2Credit’s Women-Owned Business Study Reports Women Are Closing The Funding Gap

/EIN News/ -- NEW YORK, March 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In its annual analysis of over 53,000 companies, the Biz2Credit Women-Owned Business Study found that the funding percentage (36%) for women-owned businesses that applied for financing in 2024 increased from 35% in 2023. In comparison, the funding rate for male-owned businesses in 2024 was just 29%.

Additionally, that the average funding amounts women received jumped by 25% from 2023 to 2024. In 2023, the average funding amount for women-owned businesses was $53,678. A year later, in 2024, the average amount was $67,035.

Further analysis showed that the average annual revenue of women-owned firms in 2024 increased 15% to nearly $520,000, although expenses rose as well.

The Biz2Credit Women-Owned Business Study examined financial indicators including annual revenue, operating expenses, earnings, age of business, credit scores, funding rates, and funding amounts of companies that applied for credit on Biz2Credit’s online platform in 2024.

“The funding rate and average loan amount for women-owned businesses rose in 2024, which is good news,” said Rohit Arora, CEO and co-founder of Biz2Credit and one of the nation’s leading experts in small business finance. “The percentage of funding applications from women was 36%, compared to 29% for men last year. Women-owned businesses have also shortened the gap in average funding size to just 20% less than men-owned businesses, a significant improvement compared to last year’s difference of 40%.”

“All is not rosy, however,” Arora added. “Women business owners, along with their male counterparts, saw expenses rise significantly largely because of inflation in 2024. SMBs are hoping that costs will come down, although it has not happened yet.”

Key Findings:

• The Funding Rate for women-owned businesses rose from 35% in 2023 to 36% in 2024. In contrast to their male counterparts, the funding rate for men-owned firms was 29% in 2024.
• The Average Funding Size for women-owned businesses was $67,035 in 2024, a 25% increase from $53,678 in 2023. In comparison, men-owned businesses saw an increase of 7% in average loan sizes, up from $75,045 in 2023 to $80,140 in 2024.
• The Average Age of Business (in months) for women-owned businesses increased 10 months YoY, from 62 in 2023 to 72 months (6 years) in 2024, but remains 14 months lower than men-owned businesses, up from 72 in 2023 to 86 (slightly more than 7 years) in 2024.
• The Average Credit Score for women business owners increased by 10 points, from 643 in 2023 to 653 in 2024. Credit scores for male business owners also increased 10 points, from 660 in 2023 to 670 in 2024.
• Financing Applications by State: California had the highest percentage (12.8%) of funding applications of women-owned businesses, followed by the 2023 leader, Florida (12.5%) and Texas (10%).
  
• Financing Applications by Industry: Services (except Public Administration) was the largest industry represented by women-owned companies (14.9%) in the Biz2Credit study, followed by Healthcare and Social Assistance (14.5%), Retail Trade (13.5%) Accommodation and Food Services (12.1%), and Professional, Scientific, and Technical Service (9.5%).
  
• Average Annual Revenue for women-owned businesses increased 15%, from $451,443 in 2023 to $519,886 in 2024, while male-owned businesses rose 8%, from $688,611 in 2023 to $743,643 in 2024. The revenue gap between women-owned and men-owned businesses was $223,757 in 2024.
• Average Operating Expenses of women-owned businesses increased 38%, from $363,909 in 2023 to $503,8426 in 2024. Men-owned business also saw a 31% increase in average operating expenses.
  

Comparing Women-Owned and Men-Owned Businesses: A Year-over-Year Analysis

	2023		2024
Categories	Women	Men	Women	Men
Average Revenue	$451,443	$688,611	$519,886	$743,643
Average Operating Expenses	$363,909	$541,602	$503,426	$711,670
Average Age of Business (months)	62	72	72	86
Average Credit Score*	643	660	653	670
Average Funding Size	$53,678	$75,045	$67,035	$80,140
Funding Rate	35	30	36	29

Comparison of Women-Owned and Men-Owned Businesses Year-over-Year (YoY)

Categories	Women YoY Difference	Men YoY Difference
Average Revenue	+15%	+8%
Average Operating Expenses	+38%	+31%
Average Age of Business (months)	+10	+14
Average Credit Score* (points)	+10	+10
Average Funding Size	+25%	+7%
Funding Rate	+3%	-3%

*Average credit score is derived from the personal FICO credit scores of business owners.

Top 5 Financing Applications by State in 2024 for Women-Owned Businesses

States	Women
California	12.8%
Florida	12.5%
Texas	10%
Georgia	6.6%
New York	5.1%

Top 5 Financing Applications by Industry in 2024 for Women-Owned Businesses

Industries	Women
Other Services (except Public Administration)	14.9%
Health Care and Social Assistance	14.5%
Retail Trade	13.5%
Accommodation and Food Services	12.1%
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services	9.5%

Importance of Women-Owned Businesses

During 2024, women-owned businesses had an estimated $2.1 trillion in receipts, 11.4 million employees, and $508.5 billion in annual payroll, as reported by Census Bureau (Nov. 2024).

According to the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) Annual Report, there are 14.5 million women-owned businesses that account for 39.2% of all businesses in the U.S. This number is a 11.5% increase from 2019 to 2024 and demonstrates that women-owned firms emerged stronger from the COVID pandemic than they did from the 2008 financial crisis.

Methodology

The dataset for Biz2Credit’s Women-Owned Business Study comprises over 53,000 completed commercial funding applications received via the Biz2Credit platform in 2024. The four most important variables in the analysis were: annual revenue, operating expenses, age of business, and personal credit score. The data was then tabulated to examine women-owned and men-owned businesses based on annual revenue, operating expenses, age of business, personal credit score, funding rate, and average loan size. The study looked at 20 different industries, as well as geography.

About Biz2Credit

Founded in 2007, Biz2Credit has helped thousands of companies access more than $10 billion in small business financing. The company is expanding its industry-leading Biz2X technology in custom digital platform solutions for banks and other financial institutions, investors, and service providers. Visit www.biz2credit.com, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter).

Media Contact: John Mooney, (908) 720-6057, john@overthemoonpr.com