Female Founders Co-Investment funding is available to innovative female founded businesses undertaking a new pre-seed or seed capital raise.

About the program

The Female Founders Co-Investment Fund is a pilot fund that aims to support eligible businesses to leverage funding and secure new investment to build business capacity, and will:

• help Queensland female founders access Government funding,
• support Queensland female founders across a wide range of industries to grow innovative businesses,
• increase the number of female founders participating in the Queensland innovation ecosystem, and
• help to grow an investment pipeline for female founded businesses.

The female founder should:

• have a letter of support from the lead investment entity,
• have an established business plan,
• have a clear runway and growth plan for 12 months,
• have a clear innovation focus,
• be undertaking a new pre-seed or seed raise/investment, and
• plan to use the funding to scale their business.

Funding and support

The Fund provides grants from $50,000 to $200,000 matched at a 3:1 ratio over a period of 12 months, for either a single investment or a raise round led by an eligible investment entity.

Eligibility

To be eligible for funding, organisations must at the time of application:

• be a Queensland based business.
• have an ABN and be registered for GST
• be a 100% female-founded business (as at the point of incorporation)
• have more than 50% female ownership (at the time of application)
• have no more than 50 full-time-equivalent employees
• not be a subsidiary of a group of companies that has more than 50 full-time-equivalent employees.
• not have received investment through previous capital raises, grant funding or accelerators totaling more than $500,000.
• not be a current or past recipient of the Ignite Ideas Fund
• be undertaking pre-seed or seed eligible investment from an approved eligible investor.

Application Process

• Applications may be submitted at anytime
• Applicants who meet eligibility criteria will be assessed competitively and notified by email of the outcome
• Successful applicants will be provisionally approved to receive funding for their nominated raise
• Applicants must secure their raise/investment within 120 calendar days from the provisional approval date in order to receive funding.
• Applications will remain open until all funds have been allocated.

Key documents

• Female Founders Co-Investment Fund guidelines
• Application Help Guide - Frequently Asked Questions
• Financial Incentive Agreement
• Letter of support Template

Enquiries

Email: FemaleFounders@dtis.qld.gov.au