Female Founders Pitch Night with Westpac

Join us for the upcoming Fishburners Female Founders Pitch Night sponsored by Westpac. This event marks the start of a series of exciting initiatives aimed at increasing female representation in the ecosystem.

During the event, you’ll not only get to hear from 6 pioneering female founders, but also witness the launch of the Fishburners Female Founder Program sponsored by Westpac, where we'll announce all the exciting initiatives we have in store for the year.

Join us for a night of...

• Listening to trailblazing female entrepreneurs share their groundbreaking tech innovations.
• Learning from the investors and industry experts on our judging panel.
• Enjoying food & drink (vegan & gluten-free friends, we've got you covered!)
• Networking with the leading Australian entrepreneurship community & Australia’s banking specialists 

When: Friday 12th April, 5.30-8.30 pm (Event kicks off at 6 pm)
Where: Fishburners, 2/11 York Street Sydney NSW 2000 OR virtual
Who: Founders, investors, community-members and you! 

Meet the Judges

👉Taryn Williams is multi-award winning founder and CEO and over the course of 20+ years has earned a reputation as one of Australia’s most prolific entrepreneurs at the intersection of talent, media, and technology. Her latest project is #Gifted, a Shopify plug-in enabling brands to manage their influencer contra gifting at scale, which is already being used by some of Australia’s biggest brands, including Accor Hotels, PE Nation, Estee Lauder, and Panasonic.

👉Shane Howell is Westpac’s Managing Director of Business Lending and is passionate about supporting female entrepreneurs. In 2023 he drove and launched Westpac’s $500m commitment to support women in business, with $83m of capital already injected helping more than 400 women start or grow their business. Shane’s portfolio comprises of Commercial and SME businesses including lending, equipment, trade, and invoice finance. Throughout his extensive 20 year career with the Westpac Group, Shane has held senior leadership positions in product, marketing, transformation and program delivery across Australia and New Zealand.

👉Emma Grife leads Startmate's Accelerator Program, one of the oldest and largest Accelerators serving ANZ. She moved over to Sydney last year, having previously been an investor at NYC-based venture firm, Insight Partners.

So, grab your tickets and join us in supporting, connecting and empowering founders who are making a difference in the Australian startup ecosystem.

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For those of you who have never attended a Friday Pitch Night, here's a bit of context! We are a not-for-profit community of entrepreneurs that are dedicated to growing tech startups - and this is Australia's largest, most regular event in the ecosystem.

If you're looking for inspiration to start a business, are keen to learn some pitch tips, or just want to find out what startups are new in Sydney, this is for you. It's a great event for current entrepreneurs or anyone interested in entrepreneurship but not sure where to start.

The pitch night kicks off at 6.00 pm! Grab a drink and watch these fantastic founders put it all on the table!

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About Fishburners

Fishburners is Australia’s largest start-up community providing over 1000+ entrepreneurs a year with access to investment and economic development opportunities, mentoring, facilities and educational resources. Fishburners is based in Sydney, NSW and since their inception in 2011, Fishburners has impacted over 35,000+ entrepreneurs, held 7,800+ events, created 8,200+ jobs, helped start-up businesses raise $600m+ and partnered with 2,000+ enterprises, universities, and other organisations.

Westpac's Commitment

Westpac Business Lending is committed to promoting financial inclusion and removing barriers for all business founders, including women.

In March 2023, Westpac announced new measures to help small businesses to get started or to grow with business loans for businesses looking to start-up or scale-up. These measures also help support Westpac's $500 million commitment to back more women in business and comes as research from the bank reveals accessing finance is one of many challenges faced by female business owners*

References

*Research conducted by Lonergan Research in October 2023. It was an online survey conducted among a representative sample of over 500 Australian SME Business Leaders.