Women-founded and led diversity platform, WORK180 has secured $1.8 million in funding, including $300,000 of co-investment from LaunchVic’s Alice Anderson fund and impact investment firm Giant Leap.
The funding will help to spur the growth of WORK180’s new online platform to help employers build more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces. This effort will go beyond its traditional focus on women representation in the workforce, with a wider equity focus on engaging, attracting, and retaining other marginalised communities.
“With many areas of the investor market acting conservatively amidst rising interest rates and uncertain market conditions, it was essential for us to be able to demonstrate a clear and sustainable growth path,” Valeria Ignatieva, co-founder and co-CEO of WORK180, said.
“The business transformation we will undertake as a result of this investment is key to both our commercial growth and our social impact, in Australia and globally,” Ignatieva added. “The last few years have only exacerbated the workplace barriers that exist for women and other marginalised communities. That’s why it’s so essential we can continue expanding our impact with employers like AWS, Zurich and Stantec to proactively improve organisational standards for all.”
This latest injection from LaunchVic will bring WORK180’s total funding raised since its 2015 inception to $7.65 million. The company intends to embark on a larger US-led raise in 2023 as part of its mission to grow its wider impact across the US, UK and Australia.
The Alice Anderson fund, named after the founder of Australia’s first all-woman motor garage in the 1920s, co-invests in women-led start-ups with private sector investors in order to correct a lack of representation in the early-stage business landscape.
“LaunchVic’s Alice Anderson Fund is delighted to back WORK180’s mission to raise the bar for women in the workplace,” LaunchVic CEO, Dr Kate Cornick, said. “Our $10 million fund invests in high potential entrepreneurs like Valeria building successful companies and creating jobs, the ultimate goal for us at LaunchVic.”
Businesses that are at least 30 per cent women-owned and l-ed, with at least 50 per cent of its assets and employees located in Victoria are eligible to receive between $50,000 and $300,000 from the Alice Anderson fund. The fund is aiming to unlock close to $40 million for women founders by 2024.
