The last few quarters did not play out as as expected for venture capitalists or entrepreneurs; instead of a pandemic-fueled recession that of private investment into startups, the economic shifts brought on by COVID-19 have given many companies a tailwind.

, pushing private investment totals higher as software demand shot up as work went remote,  and schools shuttered.

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The startup rebound is omnipresent around Silicon Valley. Startups are raising fresh capital amidst a pandemic — and then raising again (). Even startups directly impacted by COVID-19 are , while as investors learn to write

But, while that’s a fortuitous narrative, it’s not the full story. Data from a variety of sources collated by TechCrunch shows that early-stage female founders have been disproportionately hurt by the pandemic’s impact.

The , noting that “number of rounds raised by female-founded and co-founded companies fell year-over-year, with dollars invested in those rounds collapsing to 2017-era levels.” Other data indicated that , causing them to delay entrepreneurial plans.

This morning, The Exchange is fleshing out its understanding of the changing VC market for female founders, leaning on information collected by the , ,  and a report on the changes in venture and startups three years after the #MeToo hashtag spurred a global conversation about representation.

A VC rebound

The pandemic’s bite was felt in the second quarter when, if one subtracted the capital raised by Reliance Jio, VC .

In the third quarter, things turned around. North American startups raised $37 billion and Asian startups raised $24 billion, while European startups raised $9 billion. As The Exchange reported, “Asia’s result was its best since at least Q4 2018, as far back as our dataset goes. Europe’s total tied its high-water mark set in Q2 2019,” adding that “as a combined pair, venture capital outside North America might have just had its best quarter in years, if not ever.”

From fear in late Q1, to a middling Q2, to a boom in Q3. It was an impressive comeback. For some.