Funding boost for women-led startups in Victoria
We’re backing women-led startups with a $10 million investment to provide the early-stage capital women founders need to start, scale and succeed.
Women founders are helping shape Victoria’s next generation of high-growth companies.
Almost half of Victoria’s startups have at least one-woman founder. This highlights our strong pipeline of female entrepreneurial talent. Yet, women-led startups continue to face barriers to accessing capital.
A new $10 million investment in Innovation Victoria’s Alice Anderson Fund will give more women founders access to the capital, networks and support they need to scale ambitious businesses, create jobs and drive economic growth.
This latest funding builds on the $10 million investment to establish the Fund in 2021. Since then, the Fund has invested in 46 companies founded and led by Victorian women, leveraging more than $64 million in co-investment.
Success stories include medtech company Smileyscope, which has taken its virtual reality technology designed to reduce pain, fear, and anxiety during clinical procedures to patients around the world.
The Alice Anderson Fund honours pioneering Victorian mechanic and entrepreneur Alice Anderson, who established Australia’s first all-women motor garage in Kew in 1919.
By backing more women founders, we’re helping to:
- unlock new ideas
- grow more businesses with strong growth potential.
- build a more innovative and inclusive Victorian economy.
Learn more about the Alice Anderson Fund on the Innovation Victoria website.