10 Female Founders to Follow
Atto exists to support women to build independent, scalable, and sustainable tech startups. Since 2019, our programs have supported ~100 women around Australia, New Zealand and America to build companies on their terms.
We’ve compiled a list of the top 10 Atto female founders to watch right now.
Learn more about the startups, connect with the founders and learn more about their progress below.
Meet 10 Atto Female Founders to watch
Lingogo - Shelly Dunn & Lizzie Dunn
Founder of AirRobe
Hannon Comazzetto
Founder: Hannon Comazzetto
Atto Program: 2019 Accelerator
HQ: Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Servicing Region: Australia
Description: A network of designers, retailers and consumers who are transitioning e-commerce into re-commerce.
Fashion is the second most polluting industry in the world. AirRobe has created a new way to shop and re-purpose your shopping items with easy re-selling or renting options.
AirRobe has gone from strength to strength since Hannon first tested her idea with no-code tools back in 2019 during the first Atto Accelerator. They’ve secured brand partnerships with fashion heavy weights like Oroton, PE Nation and The Iconic. AirRobe has attracted world-class talent to their team including previous team members from Tidal Ventures, Hitchhiker VC, and Sephora.
In late 2020, AirRobe raised their seed round of $1.28million from an Afterpay early investor and fund Investible. In 2021 and in round 2 of the Boosting Female Founder’s Grant, AirRobe received $396,050 to create a Circular Wardrobe which will enable consumers to return to the application at any time and re-sell, recycle or upcycle their used-fashion in one-click.
Founder of ApplyKart
Bharati Babbar
Founder: Bharati Babbar
Atto Program: Academy Membership
HQ: Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Servicing Regions: Global
Description: Hire and be hired within two hours.
Every year, one million students enter Australia with 85% of them looking for part-time work while at university. To support these students, Bharati first co-founded One Australia where 7,000+ students from 20+ countries have already received PTE (Pearson Test of English) instruction and their revenue has grown to seven figures in their second year.
With hundreds of students joining their platform every month looking for jobs, in 2020 they decided to capitalise on their brand recognition as a top PTE educator and launched an MVP to test a solution focused on job support for next gen migrants and students. They had immediate demand both within Australia and internationally. ApplyKart is an app where jobs can be posted free in just minutes. Employers are matched with employees looking for similar jobs with matching qualifications and employers can conduct hiring interviews via the app.
Co-Founders of Bubble Tea Club
Pamela Yip & Jenny Le
Founders: Jenny Le & Pamela Yip
Atto Program: 2020 Accelerator
HQ: Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Servicing Regions: Australia (soon UK & North America)
Description: DIY bubble tea kits for any time and anywhere.
With over 60,000 customers they call bubblers, the Bubble Tea Club are taking ‘having fun in business’ to whole new levels. They’ve experienced rapid growth since they started the company during Melbourne’s lockdowns in 2020 when both of their jobs were impacted by COVID. Bubble tea lovers can purchase at home kits where serves start at just $1.75 which is far cheaper than the $7-9 drinks from bubble tea stores.
Every month over on the Bubble Tea Club instagram they share a monthly update about what’s been happening in their business where they’ve shared more about their upcoming product launches. They also shared behind the scenes news from their record breaking Birchal equity crowdfunding campaign where they raised $1.6million from supporters.
In 2021 in round 2 of the Boosting Female Founder’s Grant, Bubble Tea Club received $400,000 to expand their operations to North America and UK markets.
Founder of Coffee Roulette
Hilary McCullagh
Founder: Hilary McCullagh
Atto Program: 2019 Accelerator
HQ: Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Servicing Regions: Global
Description: Making networking within large enterprises easier through tailored introductions.
After starting matching people with a basic spreadsheet back in 2015, Coffee Roulette is now a proprietary algorithm that matches employees for coffee based on the days of the week they have in common. Since launching, more than 300,000 coffee connections have been made through the platform with 15,000 people being matched for coffee meetups each month.
From humble beginnings, the startup has had impressive global customers like FitBit, CSIRO, Vodafone, Fonterra, and Thales.
After implementing lessons from Atto like updating their website and increasing their pricing, the founder has levelled up from working on the startup as a side-hustle to now working full time on the business.
Co-Founders of Cool Points Club
Jussara Bierman & Leanne Bats
Founders: Jussara Bierman & Leanne Bats
Atto Program: 2021 Accelerator
HQ: Auckland, New Zealand
Servicing Region: Global
Description: Scalable climate initiatives that generate funds to help scale emerging carbon removal technologies.
Cool Points Club was created by two long-time friends turned co-founders who joined forces in 2021 after brainstorming ways they could make more of an impact on climate change. Since then, they’ve launched multiple initiatives within their first year of operations.
Their first initiative was Cool Gram - a $5/month subscription to make your Instagram account carbon neutral. Then they launched Islands of Cool - creating 100 art-based NFTs to fund real world carbon removal with more islands coming soon.
They have at least two more initiatives in the pipeline including Cool Minter - an app generating Digital Carbon Sponges (carbon-sucking NFTS) for ecommerce platforms, and Cool Points - the world’s first carbon negative rewards program.
Watch our Q&A with co-founders of Cool Points Club.
Watch our Masterclass with Cool Points Club on NFTs for Startup Founders.
Co-Founders of Lingogo
Shelly Dunn & Lizzie Dunn
Founders: Shelly Dunn & Lizzie Dunn
Atto Program: 2020 Accelerator
HQ: Auckland, New Zealand
Servicing Region: New Zealand
Description: Platform for indigenous stories and languages.
Lingogo is a library app packed with Māori and Pacific short stories. They use a unique, interactive dual-language format to help readers of all ages and levels to access and enjoy their growing collection.
According to studies, “reading and listening for pleasure is THE BEST way to acquire a new language.” The Lingogo app is available for download via the app stores for individuals, and there’s options for schools and libraries to be involved as well. With audio options, pop-up English translations, and online directory, Lingogo is an inspiring place to go for fun, engaging stories.
While pandemic lockdowns were happening in New Zealand, they launched the Matariki Short Story Competition and had 1,106 entries of short stories from kids aged 8-18 years old.
Founder of NannyPay
Lauren Brown
Founder: Lauren Brown
Atto Program: 2021 Accelerator
Servicing Region: Australia
Description: Offering administration services for domestic payroll.
NannyPay founder Lauren Brown is well-known in the nannying industry. First Lauren founded Nanager helping to match nannies with families. Lauren has been a nanny for over two decades, personally supporting over 100 families. She’s passionate about quality care for kids. Throughout these experiences, Lauren witnessed a few concerning things in the nanny industry - nannies being paid cash, below minimum wage and with zero superannuation. So Lauren stepped up to support nannies and families with NannyPay.
NannyPay helps families to pay their nannies with payroll services by handling all the paperwork, processes and payments to make it easy for families. NannyPay makes it simple for families to met their employer obligations and protects nannies to build their career with financial security.
Founder of Purposeful
Elizabeth Knight
Founder: Elizabeth Knight
Atto Program: 2020 Accelerator
HQ: Perth, WA, Australia
Servicing Region: Australia
Description: Helping young people and school leavers find direction and meaningful work.
Purposeful helps young people to find their place in the world with careers they’re passionate about. Founded in 2018, Elizabeth was a 19 year-old on a mission to solve a problem she experienced herself - feeling lost after graduating from high school with no idea what she wanted to do with her life.
Apparently 1 in 2 Australians say figuring out their future is their biggest challenge. Purposeful is on a mission to create a world where everyone is driven and fulfilled by meaningful work. They work with young people, high schools as well as universities and TAFEs to share career education.
The Lost Button Podcast is co-hosted by the founder Elizabeth and co-host Conor McLaughlin where they interview people and share insights around navigating some of the biggest challenges young people face in their futures.
Purposeful has had a massive impact already. They have 20+ school partners in Western Australia and over 8,000+ students have participated in their presentations, programs and workshops since 2019.
Find out more about Elizabeth by watching her TEDx talk: Generation Z, this one is for you!
Founder of WedSites
Ayla Toyokawa
Founder: Ayla Toyokawa
Atto Program: 2020 Accelerator & Academy Membership
HQ: Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Servicing Regions: Global
Description: All-in-one wedding planning platform.
WedSites was founded in 2017 when Ayla and her fiancé struggled to find one solution to help plan their wedding. They’re on a mission to simplify the wedding planning process to give couples time back to enjoy their engagement.
Offering wedding websites, online RSVPs, and a planning dashboard, WedSites now has customers from 50 different countries.
Another startup that benefited from pricing advice from Atto, WedSites changed their pricing model after the 2020 Accelerator Demo Day and shortly afterwards the company reached profitability.
When the pandemic hit, WedSites quickly adapted to create additional virtual wedding features. In 2021, they piloted a B2B offering and have a partnership with an international wedding academy where students use WedSites to get their certifications.
Founder of Zove Beauty
Adeline Yeak
Founder: Adeline Yeak
Atto Program: 2019 Accelerator & Academy Membership
HQ: Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Servicing Regions: Global
Description: Beauty brand that builds confidence via skincare.
Launched in 2018, Zove Beauty was founded with the mission statement: “Confidence breeds beauty”. Their signature products are jade rollers and gua sha tools which are now used by women all across Australia and the world. They’ve expanded their range to include other self-care products like silk pillows, scrunchies and masks. Later in 2022, they’re launching their Cosmeceutical Skincare Range.
Meet all the Atto Startups here
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