Boosting female founders

Pre-accelerator Program for Women

  • Applications Open:  This program is open on an ongoing basis.
  • Grants: up to $100,000 – $300,000

The program seeks to provide funding through a range of mechanisms that target startup sector specialists who can support Victorian startups in the form of professional development, incubators, education, mentoring, accelerators, events, and other programs.

Key Requirements

The eligible applicant is required to meet the main criteria include:

  • Overview
  • Recruitment of participants
  • Outcomes
  • Program delivery
  • Finance
  • Experience and expertise
  • Diversity and inclusion

What is eligible for funding?

The eligible expenditure must be used for operating costs include:

  • Communication, publicity, and marketing activities to recruit Queensland female founder participants for the business support initiative
  • Subsidised costs for Queensland female founders’ participation in the business support initiative
  • Resource materials and other reasonable costs associated with the delivery of the business support initiative
  • Staffing costs to develop/deliver the business support initiative
  • Return economy class airfares to support regional participation

What companies are eligible for funding?

The eligible applicants include:

  • Registered company/organisation located outside Victoria proposing a program to be delivered in the State of Victoria.
  • Registered company/organisation headquartered in Victoria.
  • Registered company/organisation with an office in Victoria
  • Experienced delivery team who agrees to setup a new company to primarily run the pre-accelerator program and register the new entity in Victoria before contract execution.

Is this grant competitive or entitlement based?

Competitive. Your application will be assessed among other applications by a judging panel.

How can I increase my chances of winning this grant?

By engaging an accredited government grants consultant, such as Avant Group.

Competitive grants often require significant business case development and project analysis to support the application, this may include detailed presentations supporting the project’s merit, projected sales, cost-benefit analysis and more.

As part of your engagement with Avant Group, your account manager will assess the required documents and will provide the following as needed to support your grant submission.

Grant application writeup including a detailed presentation illustrating how the grant funding will contribute to your project, how the funding will contribute to the project’s budget, a project milestone plan, delivery timeline, impact on employment if applicable and a breakdown of the management and leadership team for the project

  • Industry analysis presentation
  • Competitor Analysis Presentation
  • Marketing and Sales Analysis Presentation
  • 3-5 year Cashflow Forecast
  • 3-5 year Balance Sheet Forecast
  • Cost-Benefit Analysis of Grant Funding
  • End-to-end grant application including information collating, analysis and application writing
  • CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) cost-benefit analysis
  • Stakeholder relations and Risk Mitigation Plans
  • Any other relevant forecasting that will support your application

How can I get help with my application? Or know if I’m likely to win funding?

Avant Group offers a no-obligation assessment of your eligibility for funding and will assess your likelihood of a successful grant application.