Investment Readiness Pilot 2025

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Expression of Interest - Investment Readiness Pilot - Education Stream

* indicates a required field.

OVERVIEW

The Backing Female Founders Program provides a suite of initiatives to grow and scale Queensland innovation businesses founded by women.

The founder journey, never an easy one for anyone, is considerably harder for women. It is well documented that women-owned businesses face a range of barriers to growth – including economic situation, investment education, difficulty building a high-quality network and access to capital, which is ranked the number one barrier for women founders in Australia.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

FoundEd, an online program by Scale Investors, is tailored for early-stage founders aiming to raise capital—a critical turning point for many startups. Acknowledging that many exceptional entrepreneurs encounter challenges due to a lack of knowledge, tools, or networks, the FoundEd course seeks to enhance founders' abilities to navigate the startup ecosystem. The comprehensive curriculum covers a range of topics. Founders will have 12 months access to the course material.

What the program will cover:

An overview webinar session at the commencement of the program as well as the following modules:

1.  The 101 of raising capital & founder stories

 In Module 1 you will begin by cutting through some of the basic investment terms and capital raising jargon.

You will then hear directly from a range of women founders on their experiences successfully raising capital.

2.  When to raise

In Module 2, you will learn when the best time is to raise capital for your startup

3.  The investment landscape

Module 3 will provide you with a holistic understanding of the Australian investment landscape.

4.  Building founder resilience

Module 4 will begin to prepare you for your future capital-raising journey. Eyes wide open!

5.  What investors look for in a pitch deck!

In the final Module, you will gain an understanding of the key elements that are essential in any pitch deck.

6.  Office hours

Additional learning and support, fostering an environment where founders can connect and gain further insights will be an integral part of the program.

 

Applications will close 25 February 2025

Assessment

The following criteria will be taken into account for assessment purposes:

  1. Innovation - business is deemed an Innovation Driven Enterprise* (*An Innovation Driven Enterprise (IDE) is a business that emphasises innovative solutions as a key driver of growth, competitive advantage, and value creation. Such enterprises focus on developing and commercialising new products and/or services to achieve their strategic outcomes.
  2. Stage of product/service development -   built but not yet tested; reached Minimum Viable Product Stage; or Beyond Minimum Viable Product Stage
  3. Equitable distribution of opportunity - to recognise priority target groups inclusive of regional and Indigenous businesses.

Please provide detailed but concise responses to each question, writing for a broad audience and avoiding the use of technical jargon or unexplained acronyms. Attempt to address questions in full. Guidance text will be included to assist you. 

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible to participate in the program, organisations must meet the following requirements:

Is the applicant organisation headquartered in Queensland (operating and having its head office located in Queensland)? * Required
For the purposes of this program "Located in Queensland" is any organisation that has a physical office in Queensland and has an ABN which states its "Main business location" is in Queensland.
Does the applicant organisation have an ABN? * Required
Is the applicant organisation ABN registered in Queensland as the main business location? * Required
Is your business majority Female Owned? Must be at least 51% of shares held by a woman/woman (at least six months before application) * Required
If the female founder’s shares are held within a trust, the applicant organisation will be required to demonstrate how it meets the eligibility criteria above
Is the applicant organisation and/or related parties have 50 or less full time equivalent employees? * Required
Are you a subsidiary of a group of companies that has more than 50 full-time-equivalent employees in total * Required
What stage of development is your product/service at? * Required
Response required.
Clear the selected value for What stage of development is your product/service at?
Choose the statement that most closely describes the current status of the product / technology / solution
Are you planning to engage in a capital raise in the next 24 months or specify timeframe? * Required

This section is not applicable because of your response to question: "Are you planning to engage in a capital raise in the next 24 months or specify timeframe?" on page 1

in months only please