SBE Australia selected by LaunchVic’s VC Support Program to create a new women-founded VC fund
Australia’s peak body for supporting women entrepreneurs, SBE Australia, today announced it has been chosen as a grant recipient by the Victorian Government’s startup arm, LaunchVic under their VC Support Program which is investing $2.4 million in eight new Venture Capital (VC) funds to set up in the state.
Kerri Lee Sinclair, Chair of SBE Australia said this specific funding demonstrated that even in 2024, new funds were needed to invest in high-performing women founders and their business. She called out the AIC / Prequin report that showed there was approximately $5b of dry powder (raised but undeployed capital) in Australia against the Cut Through Ventures report that showed women founders received 5.3% of funding in Q2 2024.
“The continued investment of Launch Vic into SBE Australia’s long-term strategy of removing the barriers to women founders in starting, growing, and building big businesses demonstrates the success these types of government initiatives have on removing structural gaps in the community that drive impacts to and beyond Victoria. Our demonstrated success in finding and supporting hundreds of women founders since 2013 gives us unique insights and pipeline”.
This announcement follows the recent announcement of the launch of SBE Australia’s new for-purpose Advisory entity which will continue to provide the trusted advice and services women founders need to grow big.
Working in tandem and to complement one another, SBE Australia’s three-pronged strategy is now clear:
grow the numbers of early-stage women founders via programs and advocacy via the Not-for-Profit,
amplify women growing big entrepreneurial businesses through bespoke advisory and
deploy financial capital into women-founded businesses beyond the early stages where growth capital is lacking
The collective group believe this will ignite generational and long-lasting change.
Minister for Economic Growth Tim Pallas says “These new VC funds will catalyse more investment in startups when they need it most, allowing them to scale up quicker and create more high-skilled jobs in critical sectors like medtech and climate technology.”
Dr Kate Cornick, CEO of LaunchVic says: “This program is supporting the growth of the local VC sector and placing more capital into the hands of quality founders during those crucial early stages.”
About SBE Australia
SBE Australia is a leading for purpose organisation, that exists to nurture and help Australia’s high-potential women entrepreneurs, create successful and thriving global, sustainable, and world-changing businesses.
Initially started through a partnership with US based Springboard Enterprises, SBE Australia is the flagship for purpose organisation supporting women entrepreneurs who transform industries in Australia & New Zealand. Our programs and services fuel the growth of globally viable and sustainable businesses to transform industries, facilitate disruptive and impactful solutions and solve big local and global problems. We believe in collaboration to ensure exceptional and bespoke support to these women entrepreneurs to lift the profile of women's economic and cultural empowerment.
SBE programs and services offer guidance to hone-in on, and sharpen business experience and skills, surrounded by a global network of industry experts. That network opens a gateway to industry leaders and potential global opportunities.
SBE Australia has supported over 250 national mid-stage graduates in its Evolve program and over 110 global level companies who have successfully raised over $2 billion in capital and had 17 exits since launching in Australia in 2012.
About SBE Advisory
SBE Advisory was spun out from SBE Australia as a For Purpose after research and collaboration with the alumnae showed that support for scaling businesses led by women was lacking. The Company will continue to support women founders as they scale and grow their businesses out of Australia with many of the early participants of the SBE Australia programs now beyond early-stage scale.
Through a suite of growth services, the new advisory aims to continue to multiply the number of brave women leading high-growth entrepreneurial ventures, creating economic outcomes for Australia and beyond and in doing so, strives to magnify the women’s economic participation, adding billions to GDP, creating thousands of well-paid jobs and bringing important innovations to market. We are backing entrepreneurial businesses doing big things on a global scale.