Over the past six years, my business partner Caitlin and I have been immersed in the startup community, supporting and elevating entrepreneurial women through our podcast, courses and events. We’ve helped women build strong networks, find business partners and investors, acquire skills and knowledge, and find inspiration and motivation to continue even when times get tough. But despite all of our hard work, up until recently we haven’t found a way to help women where they need it most — accessing capital.
It’s no secret that women have a much harder time fundraising than men do — in financial year 2022, in Australia only 0.7% of VC funding went to women, despite research showing that women-led teams tend to generate a higher return on investment than all-men ones. The reasons for this are varied and complex, but one of them is that there are fewer women on the other side of the table dishing out the cash.
Women are more likely to invest in women-owned and led businesses, and so we knew we wanted to put our money where our mouth is and find a way to start writing cheques.
We met the co-founders of The One Two, Margot and Maria in the depths of the COVID lockdown in 2020. Maria had participated in the lady-brains Brains Trust mentor program and we could instantly see there was something special about her. She’d worked as a management consultant at McKinsey and then in New York’s high fashion scene, but it wasn’t her resume that impressed us most. There was a twinkle deep in her eye, a deep desire to create and build. She then introduced us to Margot, who came from a background in venture capital and had previously launched The Iconic in Australia. Her passion and commitment were clear from the get-go. We truly felt they were unstoppable.
A few months later over wine and cheese, the duo pitched us their business — The OneTwo. They were building a bra tech start-up with an ambition to solve the discomfort that many women feel when it comes to their underwear. We were shocked to hear that when it comes to creating bras, the industry standard is to test only a 12B size before going into production, meaning that for most women their bra isn’t engineered to properly fit.
It was a problem we personally identified with, and we also recognised the huge opportunity up for grabs. By this point, Margot had been engineering the perfect bra for 3 years, and with Maria, they were determined to save as many women from daily discomfort as possible.
We knew deep down they were the right team to solve this problem. The decision to invest was easy.
With this investment, we’re hoping to kickstart our own women founder-investor flywheel. As women, when we can funnel money, insights and experience back into other woman founders, we’re able to support the growth of diverse businesses and teams. In this way we’re participating in a virtuous cycle — as we succeed, the more we can invest, which in turn creates even more opportunities for women-led businesses. A powerful feedback loop is created as we, the investors, continue to learn and grow alongside founders. Hopefully we can encourage others to pursue a similar path.
Shining a light on this flywheel has never been more important, and an experience Margot and Maria faced during their fundraising process highlights why. They are two accomplished women, building a product for women in a hugely underserved market. During their first capital raise the duo was asked by a male investor whether they were planning to focus on the bra ‘niche’ or expand into different categories. It’s worthwhile noting that the bra market is projected to reach a valuation of US$46 billion by 2031, according to Transparency Market Research. I’d hardly consider that a niche. This example perfectly illustrates why it’s so important for women to be sitting at the investor table and having these conversations with other women founders. If we’re there, we’re able to offer diverse perspectives and insights and see opportunities that others may not.
You don’t need to be a founder to be an investor. Despite what you may have heard, if you have money or valuable skills to offer angel investing can be accessible to you. If you’re a woman and have been considering getting involved in investing, lean in, ask questions and educate yourself. There are lots of great programs out there to teach you the basics, like Startmate’s First Believers program (which we participated in last year and loved).
The woman founder community needs you.
Let’s kickstart this flywheel together.
lady-brains have just released a special podcast series that documents the startup story of The OneTwo in the lead-up to their launch. Available on Apple and Spotify.
Anna Mackenzie is the co-founder of lady-brains; a platform dedicated to helping female founders thrive. Before lady-brains, Anna led innovation projects at retail giants Mecca and Uniqlo. She’s also a startup consultant and loves exploring all facets of business, leadership, investing and personal development. You can find her on LinkedIn and Instagram at @annaclmack.
