On Thursday, 13 November, four trailblazing women-led brands will take centre stage at F5’s first-ever La Femme Activation – a bold new retail experience where commerce meets creativity and women-owned businesses are brought to life. These aren’t side hustles or “passion projects.” They’re commercial powerhouses built by women who are reshaping fashion, art, and identity.… Read more »
Liftwomen the female-focused crowdfunding platform, has raised $1.3 million as it looks to expand into Asia. The raise was led by Singapore VC Braxton Capital Ventures with support from former Alibaba Australia boss Maggie Zhou and former AXA chair Asia Gordon Watson. The cash injection is earmarked to Asian expansion, especially Hong Kong and China,… Read more »
After some quiet weeks of startup raises, we’ve seen some course correction on the funding front over the past few weeks, and the trend is continuing. The last week of September saw $94.4 million raised across the tech, marketing, robotics and fleet spaces. Leading the charge was Morse Micro with $88 million in Series C. Morse Micro:… Read more »
Sydney-based martech startup Nevam has raised $1.2 million to scale what it calls the first “live journey mapping command centre” for enterprise marketers. The round follows a successful stint for the startup as part of Techstars Sydney’s 2024 cohort. It has now been backed by the accelerator as well as Brand Fund, the Huljich Family Office, and angel… Read more »
Another week, another report highlighting the stark reality of women in technology. The Tech Council of Australia’s new “Women in Highly Technical Occupations” report tells a story we’ve heard many times before: Australia is facing a critical tech worker shortage, yet the pipeline for women is leaking at every joint. The report rightly points out… Read more »
When tech trailblazer Ann Moffatt first joined the IT industry in 1959, there wasn’t a gender divide to speak of. “There were as many women programmers as men,” she recalled. However, things changed rapidly when men started to see technology as a real career. “They sort of pushed the women down, so that the women… Read more »
For too long venture capital has dominated the conversation around women and funding. Every headline, every pitch competition, every “success story” seems to point to VC as the only path to scale. And yet, VC is not only a poor fit for most women-owned businesses, it has warped the collective understanding of what finance should… Read more »
Two startups from LaunchVic’s recent CivVic Labs accelerator program have banked $35,000 each to develop their ideas further. The program saw WoolGrow Australia and CForge each receive $35,000 to help bring their circular agriculture solutions to market. The decision follows a pitch featuring all 10 startups, which each one receiving $15,000 in equity-free funding, in… Read more »
Equity Clear, the data transparency initiative created by Scale Investors, Giant Leap and Alberts, has secured sponsorship from Investment NSW to develop a national standard for investor diversity reporting. Equity Clear has also partnered with the UNSW Centre for Social Impact to add rigour to the process, and appointed founder and gender equity advocate Noga… Read more »
This week on Startup 360, we talk to two founders who presented at Cicada x Tech23. Engineer Nick Hazell is back with his second climate tech startup, Algenie, having previously raised $120 million for his plant-based meat startup v2food. Also on the couch is Ana Belgun from CSIRO-developed digital twin pioneer Terria. They were among… Read more »
Over the past week, conversations about women founders and venture capital in Australia have been amplified by Blackbird’s latest portfolio data, reported by Startup Daily’s Simon Thomsen, alongside Elaine Stead’s thoughtful piece, The myth of the funnel. Both point to something important: The numbers we track matter, but the story they tell depends on how… Read more »
The Techstars Sydney Accelerator has invested US$1.44 million (A$2.2m) in 12 early stage startups announcing its class of 2025 today. From surfing to strata management, music, marketing, finance and biotech, it’s a wide range of ideas and solutions to big problems. The founders include a former concert violinist, an early AirBnb employee, a PHD researcher… Read more »
Wable, a social networking app for neurodivergent people, inspired by the ABC TV series Love on the Spectrum, has raised $1.5 million to expand in the US and UK. The round was led by Paul Sharbanee from Taurus Capital. The app is designed to connect neurodivergent people for friendship, dating, jobs, and support, filling a… Read more »
Sustainable building materials startup X-Hemp has raised $3.4 million in Seed funding after banking a final $1 million from strategic investment partner Danehill Group. The Central Tasmanian construction tech business, based at Cressy, 30 minutes south of Launceston, was founded in 2020 by Andi Lucas, and will use the cash for critical infrastructure, R&D and… Read more »
Women are starting and growing businesses at pace, from consultancies and creative firms to tech startups. However, the money, networks and time still stack against them. In Australia, all-women founding teams received just 2% of total capital in 2024, and in Q2 2025 dipped below 0.5%, according to Cut Through Venture data. That’s despite evidence… Read more »
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