Fishburners, one of Australia’s leading startup hubs, has unveiled a major national effort to address the persistent funding disparities faced by women entrepreneurs. The Ascent Project, a free and on-demand program delivered in collaboration with more than thirty ecosystem partners, aims to close structural gaps in clarity and access that continue to limit women founders’ ability to raise capital.
A Structural Response to a Systemic Problem
Women-led startups in Australia continue to receive only a small share of private startup funding, a long-standing indicator of deeper systemic barriers. Fishburners CEO Majella Campbell emphasizes that the issue is not founder capability but a funding environment that fails to recognize strong, investible women-led companies. The Ascent Project is designed as a structural intervention, offering the tools and support needed to help founders navigate the capital landscape with confidence.
The Two Pillars of Ascent: Clarity and Access
The program is built around two core pillars.
The first pillar, clarity, is delivered through a comprehensive educational platform that demystifies the entire funding process. Written by industry experts, the self-paced modules cover every major capital pathway, including venture capital, grants, and alternative financing options. The curriculum provides practical, step-by-step guidance to help founders prepare, structure, and execute a successful raise from start to finish.
The second pillar focuses on access. Ascent will offer a coordinated national stream of events, warm introductions, and partner-led activities that connect women founders directly with investors, lawyers, and advisors who influence funding decisions. This structured network aims to replace the fragmented and often opaque support landscape with a dependable pathway to opportunity.
Unprecedented Ecosystem Collaboration
What sets Ascent apart is the scale of collaboration behind it. More than thirty organizations, including Airtree, OneVentures, Tidal, Tractor Ventures, Touch Ventures, Side Stage, Techstars, and Birchal, have united to support the initiative. This cross-ecosystem alignment brings structure and visibility to an area where support for women founders has historically been scattered and inconsistent.
Accountability is also central to the project. Equity Clear will serve as the national reporting partner, ensuring transparent measurement of capital flows and identifying gaps that still require intervention. Co-founder Noga Edelstein underscores that data-driven tracking is essential to achieving meaningful and lasting progress across the ecosystem.
A Timely and Accessible Initiative
Accessibility is a defining principle of Ascent. Fishburners’ Head of Ecosystem, Imogen Jones, highlights that the program removes common barriers such as cost, geography, and rigid cohort schedules. By offering a fully open-access model, Ascent ensures that any woman founder in Australia, regardless of location or stage, can engage with the program at the moment they need it most.
The initiative arrives at a critical time, with capital markets tightening and fundraising conditions becoming even more challenging for underrepresented founders. Ascent provides a coordinated intervention to help women navigate these dynamics with less friction and greater clarity, giving them the tools to build and scale on their own terms.
Set to be available nationwide from early 2026, the Ascent Project marks a pivotal step toward a more equitable startup and investment ecosystem. By uniting education, access, and accountability under one national platform, Fishburners and its partners are building the infrastructure needed to support a new generation of women-led companies driving innovation and economic growth across Australia.