Monday, September 15, 2025

Investing in these female-founded companies will pay off, according to Fortune’s Future 50

Fortune’s Future 50 list pinpoints 50 fast-growing companies to watch—and invest in. Published this morning, the ranking is dominated by software and AI businesses. Half of the spots belong to companies that are still private.

Unsurprisingly, it’s mostly dominated by companies with neither a female founder or CEO. But there are a few women-led or -founded businesses on the ranking that it’s also no surprise to see.

Canva, the visual communication company founded and led by CEO Melanie Perkins, comes in at No. 32. Canva has already made several of its employees millionaires through secondary share sales as it approaches a long-awaited IPO. For outside investors, its pivot from graphic design to enterprise productivity and AI coding offers an opportunity to live up to a valuation that’s at least $32 billion.

Anthropic, cofounded by Daniela Amodei, comes in at No. 29. Its valuation is currently $61.5 billion and its devotion to studying the ethical and political implications of AI sets it apart in the AI race.

Overall, the list draws on data from more than 3,000 companies and relies on 25 metrics. Since the list first launched, companies chosen for it have outperformed the MSCI World stock index by 1.4 percentage points, with averaged annual total returns of 12%.

Explore the full list here.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com

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