Empowering Women in Startups: Launch Pad and Female Founders Club Celebrate International Women’s Day
This March 2026 at our Parramatta Pitch Night, we collaborated with Female Founders Club to celebrate International Women’s Day. The night brought together a powerful lineup of female founders from innovation tech solutions to purpose-driven ventures, each stepping forward to share their startup, their vision, and what they need to grow.
From innovation tech solutions to purpose-driven ventures, founders pitched to a panel of judges who provided real-time feedback. We had an incredible lineup of founders who stepped up and put themselves out there:
✨ emz – Pre Yerdhalli: A mobile app using biometric data to build sustainable, high-performance schedules
✨ SILVI.A Property Development Advisory – Silvia Khouzame: Streamlining development approvals so projects move faster with fewer delays
✨ Astraea Technologies (People’s Choice Winner) – Brooke Mills: A deep-tech company safeguarding human health and performance in high-risk environments
✨ Inner Architect – Tine Makumbirofa: A creative stationery system helping teenagers build productivity and real-world confidence
🏆 DSRV (Best Pitch) – Pavithra Natarajan: Transforming global waste into high-end fashion, proving luxury doesn’t have to cost the earth
The evening reflected a deep conversation about International Women’s Day with honest insights into the realities of building as a woman.
The reality is that only around 2% of venture capital goes to all-female founding teams, and although women represent roughly 22% of startup founders in Australia, they receive only a fraction of total funding. The further along the startup journey, the fewer women are funded, making spaces like this more important than ever.
As Tine Makumbirofa, one of the founders, shared:
One of the biggest things people don’t see about female founders is the constant balancing act. It’s rarely all-in.
Wayne Wanders, a previous judge at our Pitch Night last month, continued supporting our founders this month by showing up – he highlighted the often-unseen strengths behind that challenge:
It’s the resilience and ability to juggle multiple roles that really drives these founders forward.
Guiding the conversation were judges:
✨Carla Dias Wadewitz: has 25+ years of experience and is a seasoned mentor, playing a key role in supporting entrepreneurs and bulding strong innovation systems.
✨Tanisha Vithal: specialises in turning strategies into action by leading accelerator programs and and supporting founders. She has over a decade of experience as a commercial and innovation strategist.
Their feedback challenged founders to think critically about scalability, clarity, and impact. They gave comments on how they can strengthen their pitch, the potential behind each idea, and challenged them with questions about their idea.
The audience had their moment to choose who they thought was the pitch winner of the night. Brooke Mills, co-founder of Astraea Technologies, was voted highest by the audience, as she moved everyone with her pitch about deep-technology that can safe-guard human health, performance, and survival in environments where failure is not an option.
Pitch winner, Pavithra Natarjan co-founder of DSRV, reflected on the experience:
This win is such a wonderful validation of the mission we are on to turn waste into something beautiful and lasting
She shared how the night reminded her of the power of a supportive community and the magic that happens when we lift each other up.
The event created a space for visibility, connection and support for female founder to not only be heard, but backed.
Huge thank you to our judges, Carla and Tanisha, for showing up with thoughtful questions, sharp insights, and genuine support for every founder on stage, and to Ann-Mary Rajanayagam, founder of Female Founders Club for partnering with us to make this night happen, and for the work you do in backing women founders beyond just one event! Thank you to everyone who joined us for the night.
We look forward to seeing you at the next one!