ALIAVIA Ventures Raises $8.7 Million to Propel Female-Led Tech Startups

By: WE Staff | Wednesday, 11 October 2023

ALIAVIA Ventures, based in California, has raised AU$13.5 million (US$8.7 million) from high-profile family offices and investors.

Among the famous sponsors are Carol Schwartz of Trawalla, EQT, Climate Council, Tattarang (the Forrest Family Office), Robyn & Victoria Denholm of Wollemi Capital Group, Dom Pym (Founder of Up Bank), and Cynthia Scott of Zip Co.

ALIAVIA Ventures solely invests in women-founded technology companies in Australia and the United States. Their goal is to close the gender gap in venture capital funding, which currently stands at 2% in 2022, despite the fact that all-female-founded businesses have a 35% higher return on investment than all-male-led teams.

Marisa Warren and Kate Vale co-founded ALIAVIA, which has invested around AU$8.4 million to fund nine female-founded software firms, including Eugene, HowToo, Othelia, and Loupe. ALIAVIA's mission is to reduce the financing gap and gender disparities in the technology and venture capital industries. From pre-seed through seed stage, the company invests in companies that have at least one female founder and are developing B2B or B2C software solutions.

ALIAVIA employs a concentrated portfolio approach to provide full help to its founders and acts as a bridge for Australian enterprises looking to grow into the US.

Carol Schwartz AO, ALIAVIA's anchor investor, praised the fund for being a trailblazer in the Australian venture capital business by investing entirely in female entrepreneurs.