00:00Australia is home to some of the world's most successful entrepreneurs and among them
00:06is a rising number of women. Despite this, female founders are often overlooked by investors.
00:12But in this little innovation hub behind me is a founder who has beaten the odds to get
00:16her idea off the ground.
00:19Sonia Cara is building a mental health platform, connecting people to therapists with an understanding
00:24of their cultural, religious or linguistic needs.
00:27With its launch a few months ago, hundreds of people have signed up, but Ms Cara is on
00:32a mission to reach one million users.
00:34We needed the funding to be able to scale the platform, to build it, to grow, to hire amazing
00:39people.
00:40I think fundraising is hard for any founder, don't get me wrong, but I think it becomes
00:44increasingly harder when you're a female founder.
00:47I would have constantly questions around, what are your family plans?
00:50When are you having kids?
00:52There was also times where I would have investors that only wanted to meet with me if it was
00:5510pm at a bar.
00:57As Cara says some of the encounters are really difficult to think about, but she's glad she
01:01pushed through, because in the end she managed to secure half a million dollars in pre-seed
01:06funding.
01:07It is tough, and I think you need insane grit to be able to deal with it.
01:12Over the past few years, the State of Australia Startup Funding Report has provided a snapshot
01:17of where money flows in the ecosystem here.
01:20It spotlights the Australian founders building world-class technology, and the investors are willing
01:25to back them.
01:26But it also reveals a persistent agenda gap.
01:29I would love to see more female founders receiving funding.
01:33What we do need to see is how do we build on the efforts that are already being made to
01:39boost the level of female participation, both at that startup level, but also at that investor
01:43level.
01:44For most founders, the odds are stacked against them.
01:47And when you add other factors like cultural background, gender or disability, the barriers
01:52to success are even higher.
01:54But Ms. Cara says this reality should not discourage people.
01:57Yeah, I don't want to gaslight people.
01:59The numbers are horrible, but it's how do we work with this and help overcome it?
02:03I think that we need a more diverse pool of investors.
02:06We need to call out bad behavior within the community.
02:09As they say, the only people bold enough to think they can change the world are the ones
02:14who actually do.
Comments