Funding for Female Founders

If you’re a female founder of a startup that is majority women-owned and led, you could be eligible for a co-funded grant between $25,000 and $480,000 to scale up and expand!

Expressions of Interest are currently open for the Boosting Female Founders (BFF) Initiative which aims to help female founders access early-stage capital in order to grow their business in domestic and global markets.

The Initiative is designed to address some of the challenges experienced by women wanting to take their start-ups to the next level.

Rachel Greaves, CEO of Castlepoint Systems said that there are some unique challenges that can affect female founders.

“I myself have carted breast pumps on planes and attended meetings a few days after giving birth, for example. Recognition of these kinds of challenges, and of the systemic issues affecting women of all backgrounds who want to build their own businesses, is a key step in achieving better equity and more sustainable growth for our industry.”

Rachel and her team were successful in receiving a grant through the Boosting Female Founders Initiative in 2020 for the development of a new Software as a Service solution in information security and compliance.

“The BFF Grant was instrumental for us in commercialising a new and innovative capability for our product, more rapidly than we would have been able to from cashflow alone,” Rachel said.

Competitive grants between $25,000 and $480,000 are available on a co-contribution basis of 50%. Higher grant percentages are available for underrepresented groups such as remote and Indigenous businesses, humanitarian entrant migrants or refugees, and those with a disability.

Learn more about the program and the application process in a webinar hosted by the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources on Wednesday 31 March.

Applications close for Boosting Female Founders Initiative – Round 2 on the 22nd of April at 5pm AEST. Visit business.gov.au/BFF to find out more.