about us
Talent is evenly distributed but opportunity is not
Our goal is to create a world where we don’t need a fund dedicated to women, or where ‘female founder’ is a term.
The Female Leaders VC Fund was created to help close the gender investment gap and back ambitious female founders.
Unique Access
to the financial and strategic returns of a diversified portfolio of high growth-potential, female-led Series A & B investment opportunities
A Pre-Screened and De-Risked Co-Investment Pipeline
of later-stage startups with material traction and a relatively short path to exit
Asia Pacific Exposure
to startups in Australia/NZ and the fast-growing SE Asian and China markets
Impact Performance
by supporting female entrepreneurs, economic empowerment, job creation, innovation, new business ventures and economic growth
Artesian invests in remarkable startups, building transformational technology, unlocking solutions to the world's critical challenges - climate, energy, agrifood, healthcare and female economic empowerment.
We partner with sector specialists - government organisations, corporations, financial institutions, foundations and research institutes - to create collaborative, supportive, and sustainable innovation ecosystems, to optimise financial and strategic returns, and build a better future for all.
Artesian is a certified B Corp and a signatory to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment.
Alexandra is Portfolio Manager for Artesian's $100M Female Leader's Fund which invests in companies with gender diversity across their founding team and executives. She is also the Portfolio Manager for Artesian's ClimateTech VC investment activities across Asia Pacific. Alexandra has led investments from seed-stage through to Series B and currently serves as a Board Observer for companies such as modular solar company 5B. Alexandra is also part of Cleantech Group's APAC 25 expert panel and is the host of Artesian's ArteHouse podcast where she interviews founders and technical experts on new trends in innovation. Ali completed a Bachelor of Commerce and Master of Business Law at the University of NSW.
Fiona is a Shanghai based analyst for the China VC Fund. She is responsible for due diligence on early stage startups sourced from accelerator partners. Fiona joined Artesian in 2019 from Tronfund Asset Management where she was responsible for industry and financial due diligence, industry research and post-investment management. Prior to Tronfund, Fiona worked at UBS Securities as an Associate in the China auto team. Fiona has a Bachelor of Science (Financial Management) from Xiamen University and a Master of Science (Applied Finance) from Singapore Management University.
Ananya is passionate about how technology can be harnessed to elevate underrepresented groups. Most recently, Ananya worked at Publicis Sapient as a management consultant, where she worked at the intersection of strategy and customer experience. Ananya is currently a Vice-Chair at the not-for-profit Women of Colour Australia. She fell in love with startups in her last year of university, where she founded a climate tech startup, and has now gone down the web3 rabbit hole to experiment with her own NFT collection. Ananya is extremely excited to be combining her two passions for tech startups and elevating women to support Artesian's Female Leaders Fund.
Stephanie joined Artesian in 2023 as an Investment Manager on the South Australian VC Fund based in Adelaide. Stephanie has deep experience in commercialisation, especially in the health sector. Prior to joining Artesian she worked at MTP Connect as Director of Innovation and Translation, and spent 5 years at the Imperial College London as Director of Industry Partnerships and Commercialisation. Stephanie has an MBA from UniSA, A bachelor of Business from UniSA and a Diploma of Biomedical Science, with Bachelor of Laboratory Medicine from UniSA.
Mei is Head of Operations & Fund Administration, managing the daily operations of administering Artesian’s fixed income and venture capital funds which includes providing investor services to the fund’s limited partners and managing the funds’ investments. Mei joined Artesian as a fund accountant in 2006. In her 14 years with Artesian she has developed extensive knowledge and specialist skills across our fixed income and venture capital businesses. Mei has a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Information Systems, Accounting & Finance, and Business Information Systems from Melbourne University.
Jeremy is a Partner and CEO of Artesian which he co-founded in 2004. In 2009, Jeremy established Artesian's VC business which has grown into Australia's largest and most active seed stage VC firm with $540M invested from Seed to Series B in over 625 startups across Australia and broader Asia Pacific region. Jeremy sits on the Investment Committees of Artesian VC funds. Jeremy worked with the CEFC to establish Australia’s first dedicated early-stage climate VC fund, raising additional capital from super funds Hostplus, Australian Ethical and Future Super. The Clean Energy Seed Fund, launched in in 2016, has invested in 60 early-stage Australian climate tech startups. Jeremy also helped establish Australia’s first early stage dedicated AgriFood VC funds with SproutX (2017) and GrainInnovate (2019), in partnership with the GRDC. Prior to Artesian, Jeremy had 18 years capital markets experience as the Global Head of Fixed Income Trading & Sales at ANZ and traded fixed income & credit markets in Sydney, NY and HK with Deutsche Bank, SG Warburg and Lehman Brothers. Jeremy has a Bachelor of Science (Physics) and a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) from Melbourne University.
Chelsea Newell has 10 years’ experience in the financial services industry and joined Scale from private wealth management firm JBWere, where she worked as Business Manager, reporting directly to the general managers of Advice and Products, and Markets. Prior to JBWere, she spent six years at wealth management and brokerage businesses in London, including at boutique wealth advisory firm Lesmoir-Gordon Boyle, where she was instrumental in the operations and high-net-worth client strategy of a new wealth advisory arm within the business. During her time in London, she also worked for German firm MainFirst Group on the equity brokerage side as Head of Corporate Access where she led multi-country road shows for the European equity research coverage. Following this at Anoa Capital, she was responsible for creating and implementing onboarding processes for ultra-high-net-worth clients for the Global Markets division. . She specialises in founder-investor relationships, deal origination and transactions. Since joining Scale, a primary focus of Chelsea’s has been formalising processes, from due diligence on investments, to new investor onboarding. Chelsea's dedication to fostering the growth of the Australian early-stage ecosystem is evident through her active involvement in the community where she regularly presents on relevant topics, sharing her insights and expertise with her comprehensive understanding of managing founder and investor relationships and her passion for fostering innovation in the early-stage ecosystem.
Vicky is a Partner at Artesian and Head of Impact based in New York. Vicky joined Artesian’s VC business in 2015. She is focused on directing Artesian’s, and our investors’, capital, innovation and human endeavour towards positive social and environmental outcomes. Vicky sits on the Investment Committees of Artesian VC funds. Previously, she co-founded Zookal, a Silicon Valley venture-backed EdTech company and helped to scale the business 10x year-on-year as their Chief Operating Officer. Vicky sits on the boards of non-profits fostering youth empowerment including Junior Achievement Australia and is championing impact initiatives around climate change, the income inequality gap and female empowerment. Vicky has a Bachelor of Business (Economics & Management) and Bachelor of Arts of International Studies (Contemporary China) from the University of Technology, Sydney. Vicky was recognized as a Forbes Asia 30 under 30 recipient in April 2017.
Luke is a Partner of Artesian and Head of the Venture Capital Business with principal portfolio management responsibility for each of Artesian’s VC funds. Luke has led over 200 VC investments including over 40 Series A and later VC rounds across a wide range of industry sectors. Luke sits on the Investment Committees of Artesian VC funds and the boards of several Artesian’s investee companies. Prior to joining Artesian in 2015 Luke was Managing Director UBS investment bank in New York, responsible for UBS America’s US Telecom, Media/Cable, and Technology trading business. Luke has a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance and Economics from the University of Melbourne. He has completed the Program for Leadership Development at Harvard University and is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA).
Scale Investors is Artesian’s community partner for the Fund.
Founded in 2013, Scale Investors (Scale) is Australia’s first and only angel investor group investing exclusively in exceptional female founders. Scale are committed to investing in women at the pre-seed and seed stage. Their community is grounded in collaboration alongside their experienced team, to achieve their ultimate mission to lead the future of diverse investment.