LiftWomen lands Alice Anderson Funding
Global leaders and Victorian Government join hands in backing new funding platform for females as investments fall alarmingly
LIFTwomen Group, a rising new FinTech startup for ambitious and inspiring female entrepreneurs to source capital, has secured investment from The Alice Anderson Fund, LaunchVic’s $10 million fund for female entrepreneurs.
Melbourne, Australia: A year after launching Australia’s first female-focused crowdfunding platform, LiftWomen is making funding more accessible for girls and women, and changing the narrative for female entrepreneurs.
In just 12 months, the new platform has assisted and connected thousands of female founders and backers, spanning multiple industries across Australia, to realise their business dreams with the much-needed initial capital. Recognising the importance and potential of Lift Women in empowering female-led businesses and startups, two global executives Gordon Watson, CEO of AXA Asia and Africa and Peter Crewe, Managing Director of Ziffa Group, former CEO of AIA Australia and Hong Kong have invested into the company. Their investment was matched by LaunchVic’s Alice Anderson Fund to accelerate and solidify Lift Women’s growth across Australia and beyond.
This round of investments comes after a shocking report recently published by Deloitte, commissioned by SBE Australia, that revealed the share of funding received by solely women-founded businesses fell from 3.8 per cent between 2017 and 2021 to just 0.7 per cent in the 2022 financial year. Lift Women is part of the solution, enabling female founders to source equity-free and debt-free capital to start their business journey. It also provides founders with an all-in-one platform to validate product-market fit, prove traction, grow their customer base and increase brand visibility.
“LaunchVic is thrilled to be investing in Lift Women via LaunchVic’s Alice Anderson Fund – Victoria’s $10 million fund for women-led startups,” LaunchVic CEO Dr Kate Cornick said,
“We share Irene’s passion for closing the gender investment gap in the early-stage market and look forward to seeing the Lift Women community continue to grow.”
“I have been immensely impressed by all the work Irene and her team have been doing, and excited to be able to contribute to the journey of empowering women around the world to be all they can be.”- Gordon Watson, Lead Investor, CEO of AXA , Asia and Africa.
Lift Women is the brainchild of Irene Tsang, finance guru, former Enterprise Leader, and Head of Partnerships for Global Banks. Irene’s mission in Lift Women is to advance the financial inclusion for women and level the playing field between male and female entrepreneurship.
“What is good for gender equality and women empowerment is good for the economy and society as well,” explains Irene. “Currently, the gender balance is way off kilter. Women are severely underrepresented in the entrepreneurial world. Only 22 percent of startup founders in Australia are women. In 2020 alone, over six million crowdfunding projects were created globally, but less than 30 percent were women’s projects. With LiftWomen, I aim to change this.”
McKinsey Global Institute estimates that fully incorporating women into the economy would add $12 trillion to global GDP by 2025. There is a clear opportunity for organisations and individuals to all contribute to innovating and building a shared-value future of business for generations to come. “The opportunity is clear. We need to invest in female entrepreneurs, not only to help one generation, but to help and offer role models for the next,” Irene adds.
About Lift Women
Lift Women is Australia’s first female-focused crowdfunding platform that’s closing the funding gap to back women in entrepreneurship and empower them to live a life to its fullest potential. We connect female entrepreneurs to not only backers and funding, but pivotal resources and relationships, while also operating on a social impactful model.
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For more information about Lift Women, please go to www.liftwomen.com
For more information about The Alice Anderson Fund, please go to https://launchvic.org/alice-anderson-fund
