When Remy Tucker started working as a student midwife, she quickly realised the extent of period inequity in Australia.
“Women were leaving the hospital asking if they could take (hygiene) products with them and it was a recurring theme that I just started to notice everywhere,” she told AAP.
“Access to sanitary products should be as common as toilet paper that is everywhere you go.”
Ms Tucker soon founded On The House, which installs free feminine hygiene product dispensers across workplaces, universities and at public venues.
The products are paid for through advertising on packaging and displayed on the dispensers.
“It’s essentially a billboard in a bathroom,” she said.
“I started with five machines across Brisbane and the Gold Coast and we had such amazing uptake and amazing brands come on board, I realised it could be much bigger than I ever thought.”
New to the start up world, Ms Tucker was recommended to apply for the Startmate program which supports women to participate in the startup ecosystem as founders, employees and angel investors.
Since completing the program, On The House has raised a $1.7 million seed round, built a team of five and is rolling out 55 machines across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
Female-founded start ups receive just two per cent of venture capital funding in Australia, despite research finding companies established by women achieve higher returns on investment.
“Research shows female-founding teams are consistently underfunded and operating with fewer resources, globally,” Minderoo Foundation chief executive John Hartman said.
“That hasn’t changed, despite strong performance from women-led teams and clear evidence they deliver results, often outperforming their male peers.”
To help tackle this gender gap, the foundation has partnered with Startmate, committing $8 million over the next four years to increase capital available to women business owners.
Since 2019, 43 per cent of companies backed by Startmate have at least one female co-founder, significantly higher than the industry average of just 24 per cent.
“The gender gap in fundraising does not start at the point of investment, it starts much earlier in the pipeline,” chief executive Phoebe Pincus said.
“Fewer women enter the startup ecosystem in the first place, fewer progress to becoming founders, and those who do are still less likely to have access to the same networks, warm introductions, investor confidence and early institutional backing as their male counterparts.
“Women founders often have to work harder to build credibility, access the right rooms, and be taken seriously at the earliest stages.”
Brilliant female founders often waited until they felt “ready”, while male founders were more likely to back themselves earlier, Ms Pincus added.
“We know the talent is there, the opportunity now is to make sure more women have access to the networks, capital and belief required to build generational companies,” she said.
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