Boosting Female Founders Initiative

What do you get?

Grants range between $25,000 and $480,000 for female founded startups to expand into domestic and global businesses.

Who is this for?

Female founded (majority owned and led by women) startups who wish to launch and scale their business into new domestic and global markets.

The Boosting Female Founders Initiative will run over three years from 2020-21 to 2022-23. The program is part of the Women's Economic Security Package, which helps to support more Australian women into work and supports Australia's international obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The program will provide targeted support on a co-contribution basis to female founders of startup businesses to launch and scale their businesses into domestic and global markets.

The Australian Government has announced a total funding package of $18 million. For this first round, $6 million is available.

The objectives of the program are to:

• stimulate private sector investments into innovative startups led by women
• help female entrepreneurs overcome the disadvantages they face in getting access to finance and support to grow their startups
• enable female founders to scale-up, expand into domestic and global markets, and become self-sufficient
• boost the economy through increasing the diversity of startup founders

The intended outcomes of the program include:

• increasing the number of startups founded by women
• new products and services brought to market by women
• increasing financial investment in startups founded by women
• improving earning potential for women through entrepreneurship
• stimulating job creation and economic growth

The grants will be available on a co-contribution basis, in two tiers as follows:

Tier one - $25,000 to $100,000 ($140,000 if you meet additional requirements)

Tier two - $100,001 to $400,000 ($480,000 if you meet additional requirements)

The grant amount will be up to 50 per cent of eligible project costs - unless you can meet additional requirements (see the grant opportunity guidelines for further information).

You are responsible for the remaining eligible project expenditure plus any ineligible expenditure. Contributions to your project must be cash. You may seek contributions from private investors and industry partners.

The grant opportunity will be delivered through a two-stage competitive selection process due to the expected high demand for this program. You will first need to apply for an expression of interest. If successful, you will be invited to submit a Stage Two grant application.

To be eligible you must:

• be a female founded (majority owned and led by women) startup
• have an Australian Business Number (ABN)
• be registered for the Goods and Services Tax (GST)
• be one of the following entities:
  • an entity incorporated in Australia
  • an incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust
  • an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cth)
  • a partnership
  • a sole trader

In addition, we can only accept applications where you can:

• show evidence that your startup is a female founded (majority owned and led by women), see section 14 of the grant opportunity guidelines for further information on the definition of a female founded business
• provide evidence to support your source of funding (e.g. letter from contributor/s confirming funding amount) (Stage Two applications only)
• provide evidence from your board (or chief executive officer or equivalent if there is no board) that the project is supported, and that you can complete the project and meet the costs of the project not covered by grant funding (e.g. ineligible expenditure see Appendix B of the grant opportunity guidelines) (Stage Two applications only)