Press Play Ventures has a easy aim – assist extra girls turn into startup founders.
The 12-week accelerator program received the GSD (Get Sh*t Finished) Award, supported by Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, on the Startup Every day Finest in Tech Awards 2025 after delivering a dramatic influence for girls founders in simply 12 months.
Press Play was based by Jumpstart Studio’s Sangeeta Muchandani, three-time founder, angel investor Preethi Mohan from NiceTo, Isaac Jeffries, and Poonam Advani – Finest in Tech Future Chief of the 12 months finalist – in early 2024 and was backed by LaunchVic’s Alice Anderson Fund, which backs girls founders.
The premise is evident: A program for girls seeking to step exterior their company, scaleup or startup jobs to turn into a startup founder.
In simply 18 months, they delivered a 12% uplift in girls founders in Victoria, additionally having a broader influence on who will get to construct, how help is delivered, and what inclusive innovation seems to be like.
Press Play has already helped 120 girls to launch 104 startups. It’s a dramatic shift when girls characterize simply 20% of startup founders and get lower than 2% of VC funding.
The pre-accelerator helps girls transition from employment into entrepreneurship by way of absolutely funded and partial scholarships (between 85% and 100%), zero fairness, and hands-on, high-touch help.
A snapshot of expertise
The alumni is its personal outstanding snapshot of expertise – 65% are mid-career girls over 35, 62% are multicultural, and 73% new to startups.
Their startup roster spans MedTech, AI, DeepTech, Round Style, FinTech, and extra, together with GonGlobal which raised a $1.6 million pre-Seed spherical; and Umbrellus, which partnered with RMIT for ClimateTech analysis and was accepted into LaunchVic’s CivVic Labs for the Round Agtech Problem.
Now they’re scaling Press Play Ventures nationally, with two streams: a web-based program for girls throughout Australia and an in-person stream in Victoria, making certain accessibility for girls in regional and distant areas.
“Our goal is to create a robust pipeline of diverse, investment-ready women-led startups across Australia and then expand internationally,” Mohan explains.
“We’re also co-designing new initiatives with universities, incubators, and councils to embed inclusive startup education into mainstream systems, making sure gender equity is baked in from the beginning, not added as an afterthought.”
How you can GSD
The group’s strategy proves that when the setting is true, girls thrive.
Accepting the GSD award, Mohan mentioned it’s felt like whirlwind since launch, however trying again they actually did Get Shit Finished.
“The very best suggestions we get is from our founders, however that is the ecosystem truly recognising us, which is so particular as a result of we actually are a program the place we join founders to the ecosystem. And to get that recognition is unimaginable,” she mentioned.
“I think the biggest thing anyone can do [in the startup community] is lean in and support the people that are supporting the women. Because we’re already there putting in the hard yards and working with women to make it a warm and inviting experience. And we need the rest of the ecosystem to help them stay and flourish.”
So what’s one concrete factor the startup ecosystem can do to assist GSD?
“That is one thing that we all the time inform our girls founders. Finished is healthier than good,” Mohan mentioned.
“So it’s higher simply to place an concept on the market and iterate and get it the place you need it to be than simply ready and sitting in your arms. So any girls watching this? Simply get shit carried out.”
This text is dropped at you by Startup Every day, with the help of Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer.
Thanks to our Startup Every day Finest in Tech Awards companions:
