for founders
Be our next Female Leader
Our goal is to create a world where we don’t need a fund dedicated to women, or where ‘female founder’ is a term.
how it works
Steps for founders
On our end, we do our best to create a transparent investment process to help you on your fundraising journey.
our criteria
Gender Diversity Criteria Assessment Score (GDCAS)
Artesian has developed a GDCAS to help startups to self-assess when considering raising capital from the Female Leaders VC Fund, and to facilitate insights and analysis on diversity in the startup ecosystem to investors and partners.
Generally, a GDCAS > 40 is required for a startup to be eligible for an investment. Examples of the gender diversity criteria assessment score are outlined below. Note that the FLF Investment Committee will use GDCAS as a guideline for eligibility.
The committee will have the ability to approve exceptions, and these exceptions will be documented and reported to LPs (along with scores for all portfolio companies).
How our criteria applies to startups
Hear from our female founders
Frequently Asked Questions
Our primary investment focus is on individuals. We want to back female founders with a deep-rooted mission to transform and reshape their industries. We are sector agnostic, but are looking to invest in transformative and scalable businesses.
We aim to do 3-5 investments per year. We are a high conviction and high-touch fund.
Yes, especially if they bring complementary value add.
Our average cheque size is ~$2M, but we write cheques between AUD $1M - $5M.
Yes, we do lead, but we will also participate where we are not the lead in your funding round.
Yes. If you're too early we can potentially introduce you to relevant early-stage investors including the Scale Angel network.
The Female Leaders Fund was established to address the material inequity between the opportunity available for men and women founders in the startup ecosystem. Talent is evenly distributed, but opportunity is not.
We understand fundraising is always challenging and we want to be as efficient with your time as possible. After a first meeting with our team members (Ali, Ananya, Fiona or Melody), we will do an internal review and then arrange for a meeting with other team members. We will then go into a diligence process on the industry, founding team and other focus areas identified. We also spend time on your references and get to know your other supporters – advisors, investors, other team members, etc.
(a) We like our founders to tell us where we can best support them. We will spend time determining what your greatest challenges are and create a bespoke plan to support you across your business. This could include access to customers, support hiring, GTM strategy, expansion or setting up policies.
(b) Artesian collaborates with strategic investors across government, corporations and industry organisations, universities and research institutes. Access to these partners can provide investment, customers, distribution, domain expertise and M&A.
(c) You have access to Artesian’s 600+ startups, and to our network of co-investors and subject matter experts. You will also join a tight-knit community of the Female Leaders Fund founders.
(a) We invest from Series A to Series B.
(b) We like to build relationships with founders well before Series A.
(c) We assess the gender diversity of companies using our Gender Diversity Criteria Assessment Score (GDCAS).
We are looking at the current score of your company, but will also consider your plans for improving your gender diversity when considering suitability.
Our team is based in Australia, Asia and North America. We invest across the Asia-Pacific region.
Our primary investment focus is on individuals. We want to back female founders with a deep-rooted mission to transform and reshape their industries. We are sector agnostic, but are looking to invest in transformative and scalable businesses.
We aim to do 3-5 investments per year. We are a high conviction and high-touch fund.
Yes, especially if they bring complementary value add.
Our average cheque size is ~$2M, but we write cheques between AUD $1M - $5M.
Yes, we do lead, but we will also participate where we are not the lead in your funding round.
Yes. If you're too early we can potentially introduce you to relevant early-stage investors including the Scale Angel network.
The Female Leaders Fund was established to address the material inequity between the opportunity available for men and women founders in the startup ecosystem. Talent is evenly distributed, but opportunity is not.
We understand fundraising is always challenging and we want to be as efficient with your time as possible. After a first meeting with our team members (Ali, Ananya, Fiona or Melody), we will do an internal review and then arrange for a meeting with other team members. We will then go into a diligence process on the industry, founding team and other focus areas identified. We also spend time on your references and get to know your other supporters – advisors, investors, other team members, etc.
(a) We like our founders to tell us where we can best support them. We will spend time determining what your greatest challenges are and create a bespoke plan to support you across your business. This could include access to customers, support hiring, GTM strategy, expansion or setting up policies.
(b) Artesian collaborates with strategic investors across government, corporations and industry organisations, universities and research institutes. Access to these partners can provide investment, customers, distribution, domain expertise and M&A.
(c) You have access to Artesian’s 600+ startups, and to our network of co-investors and subject matter experts. You will also join a tight-knit community of the Female Leaders Fund founders.
(a) We invest from Series A to Series B.
(b) We like to build relationships with founders well before Series A.
(c) We assess the gender diversity of companies using our Gender Diversity Criteria Assessment Score (GDCAS).
We are looking at the current score of your company, but will also consider your plans for improving your gender diversity when considering suitability.
Our team is based in Australia, Asia and North America. We invest across the Asia-Pacific region.