With Cut Through Venture’s ‘State of Australian Startup Funding Report’ landing this week, it revealed a promising trend for early stage startups. Even in a year of turbulence, more newly launched Australian startups were funded by local investors than ever. However, whilst early stage funding increased dramatically, female funding dropped to an unseen level in years.
We know that increasing women’s entrepreneurship will significantly boost our economy and I wanted to offer you the chance to speak to the top Aussie female founders who are bucking the trend revealed in the report and will be the ones to watch in 2023:
- Erika Villanueva, founder of AssuranceLab — cybersecurity audit partner for small businesses. Erika took out the 2022 Female FinTECH Leader of the Year and has plans to take on the U.S this year.
- Frances Atkins, co-founder of Givvable – a platform to track and map the sustainability & ESG actions of suppliers to their targets. Frances won the UNSW Founders ‘Founder of the Year Award’ in 2022.
- Holly Richards, founder of Amplefolk — plus-size activewear and towels. Holly has already sold out two pre-sales of her first product, a towel, with plans to launch 15 new products this year.
- Georgina Jarvis, founder of MaxiMinds — run by father and daughter, a digital education platform for young people to identify and thrive with mental health. Georgina graduated last year from UNSW’s 10x accelerator program in November 2022.
- Cindi Shaw, founder of toGET — shop local platform. Cindi is a New Wave Cohort 8 Winner, her company has already won an Award for ‘Excellence in Innovation’ at the Waverley Council’s Brightest & Best Awards
These startups were all born from UNSW Founder’s New Wave program which exists to equip female entrepreneurs with the capital, resources and infrastructure they need to turn their startup ideas into fully functioning businesses. To date, it’s birthed some of Australia’s most innovative startups that are solving real world problems across a range of sectors.
