Entrepreneurship can be a lonely endeavour, but no woman is an island. These are the funds, angel groups, grants, networks, accelerators and sources of advice tailored specifically to women founders in Australia and New Zealand.
We’ve scoured the internet, picked the brains of Tractor’s in-house team, and reached out to our expert contributors, to compile a list of funding sources, resources, accelerators and networks dedicated to supporting women founders in Australia and New Zealand.
This landscape is ever-shifting, so while we intend for this list to be as definitive as possible, we also know it’s going to evolve. If we’ve missed anything, please reach out and let us know.
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These are funds, angel groups and other sources of capital specifically dedicated to backing women-led businesses. Each has its own investment mandate and requirements, which is to say, no one is investing in every entrepreneur who comes knocking.
LaunchVic’s Alice Anderson Fund is a sidecar fund, offering additional funding to women-led startups to ‘top up’ funding rounds led by other investors. Of every dollar contributed $0.85 is taken as equity, and $0.15 is provided as a non-dilutive grant.
How much?: $50,000 - $300,000
Stage: Early-stage
Eligibility: Available to startups that are at least 50% woman-owned (with exceptions).
Scale Investors is a woman-led angel network investing in women-led businesses while also offering community, education, and access to networks and expertise. Scale is now raising $100 million for its first venture fund.
How much?: Average investment $400,000 to $500,000
Stage: Seed
Eligibility: Available to startups that are 100% woman-founded; or that have one woman founder and a woman at executive level ‘with significant equity and influence’.
F5 is a US-backed fund established specifically to help close the gender funding gap through advocacy, policy and education, as well as by investing in 1,000 women founders in the Asia-Pacific region by 2030. Fund 1 has been fully deployed, but you can join the waitlist here.
How much?: Average investment $500,000
Stage: Various
Eligibility: Startups must have at least one woman co-founder.
Part of Carol Schwartz’s Trawalla Capital, Female-led Ventures invests directly in women-led startups, and also backs women-led funds, which are statistically more likely to back more women-led startups.
How much?: $100,000 to $500,000
Stage: Various, but typically seed to Series A
Eligibility: Startups must have at least one woman founder and should be considered equitable in general.
Founded by two Aussie expats living in California, ALIAVIA is another VC created with the goal of closing the funding gap for women. The firm invests in women-led startups building ‘world-changing’ tech companies in the US and Australia.
How much?: Average investment $900,000 to $1 million.
Stage: Early-stage
Eligibility: Startups must have at least one woman co-founder with a ‘significant equity position and C-level role’.
Female Leaders Fund (Artesian)
In partnership with Scale Investors, Artesian VC launched its Female Leaders Fund, to back ‘ambitious’ women founders in Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and China. The fund was established to address inequity in funding opportunities, and typically invests in three to five businesses each year.
How much?: $1 million to $5 million (average cheque size $2 million)
Stage: Series A and B
Eligibility: Artesian developed its Gender Diversity Criteria Assessment Score, taking into account the number of women execs and board members, commitment to equality, accountability, and more.
Lift Women is a rewards-based crowdfunding platform for women-led businesses and projects, meaning instead of receiving a percentage of the businesses, backers receive a reward related to the business, such as products in advance and discounts in the future. Founders set their own funding goal, and don’t pay any fees if they don’t reach it, making the platform accessible and affordable.
How much?: Depends on project cost — founders set their own funding goal.
Stage: Various
Eligibility: Businesses must be woman-led, with women making up at least half of the founding team.
Formerly called SheEO, Coralus utilises a network of women (or ‘activators’) to crowdsource funding for women-led businesses with impact at their core. Each year, cash is distributed via five-year interest-free loans, to five businesses voted on by the community.
How much: Average loan $100,000
Stage: Generating revenue of $50,000 to $2 million
Eligibility: Businesses must be 51% women or non-binary owned, and working on one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Flying Fox doesn’t exclusively invest in women, but with leading VCs Kylie Frazer and Rachael Neumann at the helm, it is distinctly women-friendly, with almost 40% of its capital is behind women-led startups.
The firm also runs its F4 pre-accelerator program for women founders in Victoria, as well as a female founders cohort inviting investors to boost round sizes for women-led ventures.
How much: $500,000 to $3 million
Stage: Early stage
Eligibility: N/A
Spark Women in Business Grants
This grant program is part of the Spark 365 membership program, allowing members to apply for one of two grants — $5,000 or $10,000 — each quarter. The application process is designed to be quick and easy, and there are no requirements around sector, size or revenue. Applicants simply need to show what they would use the funding for, and how it would support their growth and impact.
How much?: $5,000 or $10,000
Stage: Anything and everything
Eligibility: To apply, you must identify as a woman, have been in business for 12 months, and be a paying Spark Business member.
Many other VCs have senior women in their ranks, or have expressly committed to investing in more women-led businesses. EquityClear invites Australian and New Zealand VCs to share their investment data, with a view to raising awareness and improving gender equity.
To date, 11 firms have shared their data, in line with the EquityClear template. The list is constantly evolving, and can be found here.
Government grants specifically directed at women are few and far between. However, it’s always worth keeping your eye out for federal and state funding programs, as well as schemes local to your government area.
Female Founders Co-investment Fund (Queensland)
The only active grant at the time of publishing, Queensland’s Female Founders Co-investment fund offers matched funding at a 3:1 ratio. This means the grant will cover 25% of the cost of an allocated project, with the rest of the funding coming from other investors.
Grants range from $50,000 to $200,000, and businesses must be 51% female-owned.
This scheme is part of Advance Queensland’s Backing Female Founders program, which also offers workshops, mentorship and other programs to support women entrepreneurs.
Fearless Innovators Grant (South Australia)
In partnership with the Fearless Females Network, the South Australian government offers grants of up to $10,000 to women founders for accelerating business growth, or up to $30,000 to help them scale. Applications for 2025 have not yet opened.
Business SA’s Women in Business Program also offers business education and advisory courses tailored to women, and an initiative designed to help women entrepreneurs to connect, collaborate and form supportive communities.
Not everything is about dollars and cents. If you’re not looking for funding right now, but you could use some support, advice and community, these are some of the groups you can turn to.
Based in Western Australia, VentureX is a membership network connecting women founders with a community of investors and experts, while also supporting more women to become angel investors. Businesses must be women-led and owned, with at least one woman on the executive team.
A community-driven initiative, Capital X publishes a list of women-led businesses in Australia and New Zealand, and another of women investors. The goal is to increase visibility of women in this space, to create connections and encourage more investment into women.
Formerly Heads over Heels, Apropela supports women entrepreneurs in finding relevant business networks, and plugging into them.
This community focuses on mums in business, in particular, providing events, advice, community, and in-person and online meetups.
Tech Ready Women offers a range of programs and connection and mentorship opportunities, designed to get women leaders ready to start and grow their business, and get investment-ready.
Spun out of SBE Australia, March Collective is a new initiative offering tailored advice, support and community for women building high-growth businesses.
One Roof is a membership platform offering a safe space for women to seek support, connection and community. Members gain access to masterclasses and courses, business resources, intros, and both online and IRL events.
Part of the government-funded Future Female Entrepreneurs Program, Enterprise Me provides resources and support for women in the early stages of building a business, or who are thinking of taking the leap into entrepreneurship.
Rare Birds connects women leading businesses with the mentors best suited to their professional needs, leadership styles, goals and personalities. The community also offers networking opportunities and business masterclass events.
Lady Startup is an ‘education-based community’ for aspiring women entrepreneurs and those looking to grow their businesses. As well as its flagship ‘rocket’ and ‘activation’ courses, the group offers connection to community, podcasts and a newsletter geared towards supporting women in business.
EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women
This global program offers access to networks, mentorship and resources to help women build successful and inclusive businesses, to tackle the challenges that crop up along the way, and to achieve maximum visibility. Find out more about the Asia-Pacific program specifically, here.
Funding4Growth is a community for women-led and women-founded businesses, social enterprises and impact-driven companies, helping founders access the tools and opportunities to access grant funding.
This peer network brings together women running healthcare startups to connect and support each other, and fuel growth through ‘collaborative accountability’. Membership includes events, office hours and resources.
This LinkedIn community was created to offer a safe space for women founders, allowing entrepreneurs to connect and share experiences and advice. It now also runs in-person events and connection opportunities.
Part of the Farmers2Founders initiative, TEKWOMEN QLD offers a dedicated online community and networking platform for women leading agrifood-tech startups in Queensland. Membership includes access to networking events and workshops, as well as opportunities for connection, collaboration and knowledge-sharing.
Accelerator programs can also offer a route to funding, through education and prep to get a business investment-ready. Some are also connected or affiliated with VCs and angel investors themselves.
These accelerators are tailored to women founders. Plus, we’ve included some other education programs that could set you off on the right foot.
SBE runs two accelerator programs for women founders, with Explore helping budding entrepreneurs in the ideation and early development stage of business and Evolve supporting them through growth and scaling phases. Both offer step-by step roadmaps, actionable advice, office hours and community support.
A collaboration between Fishburners and Westpac, The Ascent Project also runs two programs, designed to support businesses with at least one woman founder, at different stages. The Incubator Program is focused on validating ideas and bringing businesses to life, while the Accelerator Program support post-revenue startups in their next stages of growth.
Startup Onramp Female Founders Program
Backed by Advance Queensland, this program offers free access to three initiatives exclusively for women entrepreneurs in Queensland: an online pre-accelerator course; a founders’ course covering essential business skills; and mentoring for founders.
Alongside its community offerings, Tech Ready Women offers an eight-week program designed to help women test their ideas at the earliest stage, and launch into the market. For founders who have proven traction, the Investment Ready program is specifically designed to equip women with the info they need to navigate the capital raising journey.
F4 Flying Fox Female Founders Program
Supported by LaunchVic, Flying Fox’s 12-week pre-accelerator program is designed to help women founders grow ideas and pre-launch companies into businesses ready for market, and ready for investment. The program is free and open to women founders based in Victoria. Once sessions have wrapped up, participants can access six months of mentoring.
Also backed by LaunchVic, Press Play is another pre-accelerator helping women in Victoria transition from corporate jobs into entrepreneurship. The 12-week program is designed to fit around a nine-to-five, while a founder alumni fund means there’s follow-on funding available.
Empower (University of Queensland)
Open to students, alumna and staff, University of Queensland’s Empower accelerator program supports solo women founders and startups that are at least 50% women-owned. The ten-week course is delivered in person in Brisbane.
I2N Female Founders Program (Newcastle University)
Newcastle University also runs a woman-focused pre-accelerator program through its Integrated Innovation Network (I2N), open to startups with at east one woman founder, who has majority or equal stake in the business. Startups must be based in the Hunter or Central Coast regions, with sessions run in Honeysuckle, Newcastle.
New Wave (UNSW)
New Wave runs both virtual and in-person programs, open to UNSW students, staff and alumni, and aimed at women in the earliest stages of their startup journeys. Women can join individually, or as a team, however all team members must identify as a woman. The program focuses on skill-building and workshops, and culminates in a pitch competition with cash to be won.
Future Female Entrepreneurs Program
Funded by the Federal Government’s Women’s Leadership Development Program, the Future Female Entrepreneurs Program runs an Academy for Enterprising Girls, offering business skills to girls aged 10 to 18, as well as an Accelerator for Enterprising Women.
EnergyLab’s Women in Climate and Energy Fellowship
This three-month accelerator is designed to help women build and launch clean energy and climate-tech startups. The online program runs annually and includes entrepreneurship fundamentals, networking and mentorship, and an opportunity to pitch climate tech investors.
Supported by Advance Queensland and delivered with support from HEX, The Creative Co-Operative’s Anyone Can Build program is a pre-accelerator program for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) women entrepreneurs. The 13-week program includes sessions on building an MVP, pitching and investment readiness, and culminates with a pitch showcase, with a $1,000 matched funding grant up for grabs.
TEKWOMEN QLD’s Agrifood-tech Startup Studio is a 15-month incubation program offering coaching, growth sprints, boot camps, events and investor engagement to women-led agrifood-tech startups, as well as structured business development support. The group also offers an Idea Incubation platform, designed to support women entrepreneurs as they explore and build on business ideas.
We Are Emersyn provides a range of accelerator and business growth programs for women founders in Western Australia. A six-month Scale Advisory program offers tailored support for scaling; the eight-month Marketing Growth Lab program offers skills for building brand and visibility; and the 12-month Elevate Female Founders program is designed to set businesses up for sustainable, long-term growth.
Finally, it never hurts to learn from those who came before you, and women who have secured funding have a lot of wisdom to share.
We chatted to Danielle Owen Whitford of Pioneera, who, if she had her time again, might not have gone down the VC route. We’ve also heard from Lauren Humphrey of The Mintable, who successfully raised funding and had a very positive experience… even if her story didn’t go the way she had planned. Read these case studies here.
Elsewhere, in this article, nine Airtree-backed founders share advice for other women seeking funding, while in this piece, Kim Teo, co-founder and CEO of Mr Yum, shares the biggest mistake she made as the business grew.
This article from Forbes is US-centric, but profiles 10 women-led startups building women-focused tech.
And finally, The Club, explores the many challenges facing women in tech that don’t apply to men, whether they’re funded or not.
If you’ve found an article, blog post or story that has inspired you, let us know and we’ll add it to the list.
Writer
Stephanie Palmer-Derrien
Writer
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