KEY POINTS
  • The number of women-owned businesses that applied for funding in 2018 increased by 13 percent, according to an annual study of 30,000 companies nationwide by Biz2Credit.
  • The Biz2Credit research found that the average size loan for women-owned businesses was 31 percent less than for male-owned businesses.
  • Nearly 1 in 5 loan applications from women-owned businesses were in services.

Women-owned businesses continue to be a growth engine for the U.S. economy, and recent data shows their access to capital is an indicator of the phenomenon. The number of women-owned businesses that applied for funding in 2018 increased by 13 percent, according to an annual study of women-owned companies by Biz2Credit, a leading online credit marketplace for small companies. But it revealed that loans for women entrepreneurs where nearly one third less than for their male counterparts.

The study, which included 30,000 companies nationwide in more than 20 industries — including retail, health care, hospitality, construction and professional services, among others — revealed that the average loan amount for women-owned companies was $48,341 last year. The most common type of funding was working capital for business expansion.