Amanda Derham

TalkiPlay makes learning to talk fun, harnessing technology to engage children in early literacy. Dr Annie McAuley made the furniture talk & sing to teach her child how to talk. TalkiPlay aims to improve the education outcomes for the 1 in 5 preschool children struggling with speech delay.

Scale is a female focused angel investor network. At Scale we empower Australian investors to connect, invest and succeed. We provide investment and support to diverse founders in early stage businesses. Since 2013 Scale Investors have been activating early stage female led organisations and building a supportive and sustainable network that invests in female founders today to create the female investors of tomorrow. The Scale Angel network is an exceptional cohort of accomplished people who believe that investing in and supporting talented diverse teams will create the iconic businesses of tomorrow. Of the total venture capital funding available only 2% is deployed to women, yet female owned companies generate more revenues with less investment. Women are two times more likely to take social impact of a deal seriously however are not taken seriously despite having 50% of the good ideas. The evidence is clear, McKinsey and Company’s 2015 “Why Diversity Matters” research found the top quartile of gender diverse public companies are 15% more likely to outperform industry medians. It starts with us; the Scale Investor network has a powerful role to play to activate early stage female led organisations. We welcome all investors who share our vision of maximizing returns by supporting early stage businesses that value gender diverse leadership.

Significant Ventures champions critical technology innovation in Australia – building the next generation of high-value companies, capabilities, and industries. We’re uniquely positioned to back breakthroughs in their earliest stages. Our unrivalled pipeline of investment opportunities is powered by our deep industry relationships, grown through investing in science-based innovation since 2000. We are sector agnostic and look for technologies that demonstrate market advantage that’s hard to replicate. We look for founding teams that are deeply committed, seek collaboration and knowledge, and have high conviction in the impact they want to achieve. We are the enablers, not the experts. Technology evolves at lightning pace and our founders remain the experts in their field. We focus on building the foundations of strong market-fit, early industry engagement and commercially investible business models. We are a small but active VC fund that works alongside some of Australias largest research institutions, sources of innovation and peer funds to co-operate and help attract the human, financial and intellectual capital needed by early-stage companies.

TalkiPlay makes learning to talk fun, harnessing technology to engage children in early literacy. Dr Annie McAuley made the furniture talk & sing to teach her child how to talk. TalkiPlay aims to improve the education outcomes for the 1 in 5 preschool children struggling with speech delay.

V/Line is connecting our communities. We are Australia’s largest regional public transport operator and customers take more than 17 million trips on V/Line train and coach services each year. Through our Customer Charter we are committed to making each journey safe, comfortable and reliable, as well as being helpful and keeping customers informed. We also work towards a connected and prosperous regional Victoria by forging strong relationships with other organisations and stakeholders, vital to the strength of the community. V/Line has more than 2200 staff across more than 700 different positions working at 74 locations across the network. We are a diverse organization with staff from many different backgrounds and we value the contribution they make to the community as well as the work they do for V/Line.

Scale is a female focused angel investor network. At Scale we empower Australian investors to connect, invest and succeed. We provide investment and support to diverse founders in early stage businesses. Since 2013 Scale Investors have been activating early stage female led organisations and building a supportive and sustainable network that invests in female founders today to create the female investors of tomorrow. The Scale Angel network is an exceptional cohort of accomplished people who believe that investing in and supporting talented diverse teams will create the iconic businesses of tomorrow. Of the total venture capital funding available only 2% is deployed to women, yet female owned companies generate more revenues with less investment. Women are two times more likely to take social impact of a deal seriously however are not taken seriously despite having 50% of the good ideas. The evidence is clear, McKinsey and Company’s 2015 “Why Diversity Matters” research found the top quartile of gender diverse public companies are 15% more likely to outperform industry medians. It starts with us; the Scale Investor network has a powerful role to play to activate early stage female led organisations. We welcome all investors who share our vision of maximizing returns by supporting early stage businesses that value gender diverse leadership.