Boosting Female Founders Grant Round 3

The Boosting Female Founders Grant provides targeted support to female founders of start-up businesses to scale into domestic and global markets.

Round 3 (out of 5 proposed rounds) will open on 6 May 2022.

The objectives of the Boosting Female Founders Grant are to:

· stimulate private sector investments into innovative start-ups led by women

· help women entrepreneurs overcome barriers to accessing the finance and support necessary to scale their start-ups

· enable female founders to scale-up, expand into domestic and/or global markets, and become self-sufficient

· boost the economy through increasing the diversity of start-up founders.

It is a very competitive 2 stage grant process. Stage 1 is lodging an Expression of Interest (EOI). If you are successful in Stage 1 you will be invited to complete and submit a grant application. If you are successful in Stage 2, you will be offered a grant.

How Much Funding is Available?

For many businesses, the funding available ranges from $100,000 to $400,000. Most businesses will need to match the funding provided (i.e. you spend $200,000 of which you fund $100,000 in cash and the grant will find the other $100,000).

For priority groups (such as regional businesses, businesses with Indigenous or disable founder), , the funding available ranges from $100,000 to $480,000 and you will need to fund 30% of the spend (i.e. you spend $200,000 of which you fund $60,000 in cash and the grant will find the other $140,000).

Eligibility Rules

The obvious eligibility rule is that the business is female founded that is at least 51 per cent owned and led by women. This will be checked and please be aware around 20% of the Round 2 applications failed this test so were ruled ineligible without considering what they said in their application.

The other important rule is that your business must be a start-up that is scalable. These are 2 very important terms.

Start-up is defined as an early stage, innovative or disruptive business that is scalable and working on a new or novel product, service or has a different business model (my emphasis).

Scalable is defined as a startup which can grow quickly and has the potential to address large national and international markets (my emphasis).

Under the Grant rules, to be considered a start-up which is scalable, at least two of the following indicators of innovation and high growth must apply to you:

You are applying to register, or have registered intellectual property rights.
You have registered for, and are undertaking eligible research and development activities for the Research and Development Tax Incentive (RDTI) scheme.
You are applying for, or have been granted, required regulatory approval for your product, process or service.
You have attracted third party investment.
You have a minimum viable product that has been tested with customers, is ready for market, or for which you have had first sales.
You have completed or are undertaking an accelerator or incubator program that provides time-limited support for entrepreneurs with a start-up.
You have a written agreement to co-develop and commercialise an innovation with selected bodies:
You would meet the early-stage innovation company (ESIC) requirements.
You have been incorporated or registered with the Australian Business Register within the last five years.

If your business can not meet at least 2 of the above, don’t bother applying as your EOI will be rejected.

Other requirements include the need to be an active business with an ABN and revenue less than $20m.

Also, any money spent before you are awarded the grant does not count. It is anticipated grant commencement is February 2023 and a maximum project period must conclude by no later than April 2025. Make sure you allow for this in any application.

What can the grant money be used for?

Eligible activities to scale into domestic and/or global markets can include, but are not limited to:

launching and scaling products and/or services
developing and marketing software and apps
development and marketing of products and/or services
purchase of equipment specific to project to support growth
expansion to other markets
access to independent management (for example C-suite, advisory board)
expanding management teams and/or establishing a board
access to relevant professional development.

Eligible expenditure must:

be incurred by you within the project period
be a direct cost of the project
be incurred by you to undertake required project audit activities
meet the eligible expenditure guidelines.

It can include direct labour costs plus an factor of 30% to cover oncosts such as superannuation and overheads such as rent; third party contractors; travel and overseas expenditure.

Assessment Criteria for the Boosting Female Founders Grant

Note this is a very competitive grant, last year there were over 2,500 applications at the EOI stage and there was only 38 businesses who were ultimately successful. A success rate of less than 2%. So please make sure you do everything to address the questions to the best of your ability, in a succint and direct manner. The people reading your application wont have time for waffle.

Stage 1 EOI

You will need to answer the following questions:

How will a grant help you to scale-up, expand into domestic and/or global markets (40 points)
Your capacity, capability and resources to grow (30 points)
The impact of grant funding (30 points)

You will be scored for each of these and only those applications that score at least 50 per cent against all assessment criteria will be invited to submit an application under Stage Two.

Stage 2 Grant Application

You will need to answer the following questions:

How grant funding will help you to overcome barriers to scaling, expanding into domestic and/or global markets and becoming self-sufficient (30 points)
Your capacity, capability and resources to deliver the project (40 points)
The impact of grant funding (30 points)

You will also be asked to provide:

a pitch deck (PDF power point presentation max 10 slides)
a video pitch from your CEO/founder (no longer than 5 mins) supporting your response to the assessment criteria
and your business plan in 10 pages or less

How to Apply?

You must apply online for the Stage 1 EOI of the Boosting Female Founders Grant. Applications open 6 May 2022 and close 5pm EST 2 June 2022.

Click here to learn more about the Boosting Female Founders Grant and to get the link to apply

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