Investing in Australian Startups
The Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources is now accepting Expressions of Interest (EOIs) for Round One of the Boosting Female Founders (BFF) Initiative.
The BFF Initiative (or program) aims to help female founders to access early stage capital to grow their startups in national and international markets.
The program will provide grants between $25,000 and $400,000 on a co-contribution basis to successful applicants. It will run over three years from 2020–21 to 2022–23, with $6 million available for Round One. Eligible EOIs will be accepted until 14 April 2020 5pm AEST.
Who can apply?
Eligible female founded (majority owned and led by women) startups can apply. The startup must be at least 50 per cent women owned (equity or shares) and at least 50 per cent of the founding team or senior managers must be women.
A startup is an early stage, innovative or disruptive business that is working on a new or novel product, service or has a different business model. The startup must be scalable — able to grow quickly and has the potential to address large national and international markets. The full eligibility criteria can be found at business.gov.au/BFF
Inform your community
You can tell people about this opportunity via your social media channels by sharing information from twitter.com/business_gov_au or facebook.com/business.gov.au or linkedin.com/company/business.gov.au You can also link to business.gov.au/BFF to provide your community with more information about the application process, including how to submit an EOI.
All eligible female startup founders are encouraged to apply, including those from underrepresented groups, such as founders: in regional or remote areas of Australia, who have a disability of Indigenous businesses, who are first generation migrants and/or refugees.
What happens after an EOI is submitted?
The department will assess all EOIs submitted against the eligibility criteria and eligible EOIs will be considered by an Independent Assessment Committee.
Successful EOI applicants will then be invited to submit a Stage Two grant application.
Need more info?
Visit business.gov.au/BFF.
If you have any questions, please contact us at BFF@industry.gov.au