“We love the collaboration with Tattarang because it lets us reach new circles outside of our bubble,” Mr Batko said.
“When Rick introduced us to Nicola, she was talking about the need for greater representation of female founders, and it was fortuitous because that was a big focus of ours as well.”
Last week’s State of Australian Startup Funding report revealed 23 per cent of start-ups that received funding in 2022 had at least one female co-founder.
But, the percentage of overall capital raised by female founders slipped to just 10 per cent – something that was largely attributable to the slowdown in late-stage capital raises.
In previous years when Melanie Perkins’ Canva has done a capital raise, that has inflated the percentage of capital flowing to female founders.
“It’s not a simple challenge to address and will require collaboration across industry,” Mrs Forrest said.
“It’s important to ensure women have an equal chance and equal opportunity in business, by supporting initiatives which assist women throughout their entrepreneurial journey. It’s also critical that there are diverse investment firms ready to invest at the different stages of a business’s lifecycle.”
“The disproportionately low share of venture capital received by women stalls economic progress and prosperity.
“We were impressed with the program and Startmate’s commitment to supporting women at the beginning of their business journey. [It] has a strong reputation and has consistently demonstrated an ability to identify and nurture the best talent. This consistent diversity is what made Startmate stand out.”
Tattarang has also recently invested in luxury fashion brand Camilla, which is owned by Camilla Franks, and the Southeast Asia Women’s Economic Empowerment Fund, based out of Singapore.
Gender diversity progress
Mr Batko said in the last few years the accelerator had prioritised initiatives that amplified the success of women, resulting in 45 per cent of its 105 investments since 2021 having a female co-founder. These investments have also accounted for 43 per cent of capital deployed.
This progress is in stark contrast to 2017 and 2018, when the accelerator publicly acknowledged it wasn’t making sufficient strides in diversifying its cohorts, with all-male founding teams still dominating those accepted to its programs.
Mr Batko said since then, Startmate had made a genuine effort to build programs that would boost the participation of women across the entire start-up ecosystem.
“The Women Fellowship has been running for three years now and 530 people have been through it and of those 60 per cent to 70 per cent have landed jobs in start-ups. [Some] have gone on to start their own start-up,” he said.
“We’re not consciously focusing on women founders at the time of the investment decision, we’re increasing on it at the grassroots level,” Startmate head of investments Brady Flockhart added.
The investment from Tattarang follows Startmate revealing in December that it had raised $14 million in the last 12 months for its Accelerator Fund and its first Continuity Fund (which will let it keep investing in its alumni), compared to a total of $11.1 million for its decade-long history between 2011 and 2021.
Other investors in its funds include the founders of Atlassian, Canva and Culture Amp, as well as Startmate mentors such as Adore Beauty’s Kate Morris and Up’s Dom Pym.
