The $52.2 million Boosting Female Founders grant program will end millions of dollars under budget, after future rounds were quietly axed in the recent federal budget.
Launched in 2020 under the Morrison government and continued by the Albanese government, Boosting Female Founders (BFF) promised co-contributions of up to $480,000 to help women-led startups expand domestically and overseas.
Despite a series of high-profile delays, errors, and what some applicants saw as poor communication from the Department of Industry, Science, and Resources (DISR), three rounds of BFF grant funding have promised tens of millions in funding to successful startups to date.
Some $35.2 million of the initiative’s full $52.2 million budget has been approved for successful applicants.
But communications between DISR and successful Round 2 and Round 3 grantees, quietly delivered two days after the 2024-2025 federal budget was handed down on May 14, show future rounds will not proceed.
The decision will carve around $17 million in funding devoted to women-led startups away from the grant program.
“As part of the Budget, the government decided the Boosting Female Founders Initiative will wrap-up after the completion of Round 3,” according to an email sent on May 16 and seen by SmartCompany.
The decision is not expected to affect the milestone and will progress payments offered to earlier successful applicants.
“We look forward to continuing to work with you as you complete your projects,” the email said.
The BFF program’s stated mission was to level the playing field for Australian women in the startup scene, who continue to receive a tiny fraction of the capital invested into innovative businesses each year.
It has provided 123 majority female-owned and female-led startups with grant funding.
Successful applicants were also eligible for mentoring in areas like finance, intellectual property rights, marketing, and capital-raising strategies.
To date, those mentoring services have been provided to more than 900 applicants.
Amanda Rose, the founder and CEO of Entrepreneurial & Small Business Women Australia, mentored BFF grant recipients for several years.
Speaking to SmartCompany on Tuesday, Rose says the program’s cessation is a significant loss for women in the startup sector.
“I loved it. The women loved it. When I helped, I watched them take off in leaps and bounds afterwards,” Rose says.
“I think not enough people knew about it, not enough people were involved in it. And now it being cut is going to put women behind massively.”
The reason for the cut-off appears to be DISR’s internal view that the program underdelivered on its goals.
Documents obtained by InnovationAus under the Freedom of Information Act show an internal DISR investigation found the BFF initiative should not continue for consecutive funding rounds, as it has underdelivered on its stated goals.
The federal government has moved to “wrap up early”, ahead of the program’s planned 2024-2025 end date, the documents show.
While the documents acknowledge the positive effect of the BFF funding and mentorship on individual businesses, DISR concluded the program “did not have a measurable impact on the wider startup ecosystem”.
However, Rose says claims the program had few benefits for the broader ecosystem are “bullshit”.
“It’s absolute rubbish. It’s insulting, is what it is, absolutely insulting,” she says.
“Not only is it insulting to the mentors, [it is] insulting to the women who got the funding and what they did with it.”
The program’s benefits extended far beyond raw funding power, says Rose, who says the BFF scheme also provided founders with skills and resilience.
“They’ll justify it but I know for a fact — from the people I worked with — the confidence and the funding they got from the government helped them secure private funding.
“Without that, all of them will go under.”
The government will reportedly redirect the remaining funding from the BFF program to other startup-facing initiatives, but leaders in the private sector are ruing the loss of the only government grant initiative solely focused on women startup founders.
“It’s high time we recognise and support the unique challenges and opportunities that female entrepreneurs bring to the table,” Kim Chandler McDonald, CEO and co-founder of data management firm 3 Steps Data, wrote on LinkedIn.
“What’s the next step towards true equality in funding and support?
“More to the point, what is the plan for replacing the Boosting Female Founders Initiative. This female founder wants to know.”
SmartCompany has contacted DISR for comment.
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Senior Business Journalist
Focused on the small business sector, David’s work covers the political, regulatory, and economic issues facing Australian entrepreneurs. Prior to joining SmartCompany, he was a reporter for Business Insider Australia. You can follow him on LinkedIn.
Senior Technology Journalist
A multi-award-winning journalist, Tegan has been reporting on technology, telecommunications and gaming for the past 10 years. She regularly appears on mainstream media channels as an expert tech commentator. Her previous roles include editor of Gizmodo Australia and global reviews editor at Finder. She has also served as a reporter and editor across Business Insider, Lifehacker and Kotaku Australia. Tegan was the co-host of one of the top technology podcasts in Australia, Queens of the Drone Age. You can find her on Twitter @Tegan_Writes.
