Deadline Date: June 30, 2026
The Female Founders Co-Investment Fund by the Queensland Government is designed to support women-founded and women-led innovation-driven enterprises seeking to raise capital for business growth through the sale of shares.
The focus of the fund is to support Queensland-based female founders to close early-stage investment rounds leveraging Government backing, support Queensland female founders to grow innovative businesses across a wide range of industries, increase the number of female founders participating in the Queensland innovation ecosystem, and help to grow an investment pipeline for female founded businesses.
The program is intended for women-founded and led innovation-driven enterprises that are planning to raise capital and understand the responsibilities and legal requirements of equity funding. It supports those who are approaching new investors as part of their early-stage capital raise and enables applicants to access grants that are pre-approved and subject to an investment raise.
The fund aims to address the statistical reality that startups founded and led by women attract less investment capital than those led by men. By backing eligible female founders, the initiative helps them secure critical early-stage capital needed for growth and enables them to scale innovative businesses across multiple sectors.
Successful applicants will receive grants ranging from $50,000 to $200,000 excluding GST, matched at a 1:3 ratio for a funding round led by an eligible investment entity. To receive the minimum grant of $50,000, an organisation must secure at least $150,000 in external investment. Provisionally approved applicants are given 180 calendar days to secure further investment as part of their nominated raise..
To be eligible for funding, organisations must be a business headquartered in Queensland with its head office located in Queensland, hold an active ABN and be registered for GST, be majority female-owned with at least 51% of shares held by a woman or women for at least six months before application, be female-led with at least one primary executive decision-making position held by a woman for at least six months before application, have no more than 50 full-time-equivalent employees, not be a subsidiary of a group of companies that exceeds 50 full-time-equivalent employees in total, not have previously raised more than $500,000 through investment, and be engaging in or planning to engage in an early-stage capital raise from a new eligible investment entity or entities.
The program will remain open until all funds have been allocated. Eligible applications will be competitively assessed, and results will be communicated via email within approximately 6-10 weeks. Provisionally approved applicants must secure their raise within the designated timeframe to access the grant.
For more information, visit the Queensland Government.
