Scale Investors Research
Investment Thesis
Scale Investors is Australia's first women-led venture capital fund, built on the thesis that women-led startups are systematically overlooked by traditional venture capital despite outperforming on a risk-adjusted basis. The firm's core mandate requires that every portfolio company have at least one woman (or gender non-conforming) co-founder who holds equal equity to any male co-founders and genuine C-suite decision-making power. Scale frames this as an arbitrage opportunity: female founders receive roughly 3-4% of Australian venture funding, yet the firm's own track record (a NASDAQ listing and a 30x exit within its first decade) argues the gap is mispriced risk rather than mispriced opportunity.
Stage Focus
Scale invests across Pre-Seed, Seed, and Series A, with Series A positioned as a smaller, follow-on co-investment rather than a new-money lead.
Check Size
Typical investment sizing by stage:
- Pre-Seed: $100K-$500K, targeting roughly 20% ownership
- Seed: $500K-$1.5M, targeting roughly 15% ownership
- Series A: $1M-$3.5M follow-on, targeting 5-10% ownership
Lead Tendency
Scale typically leads or co-leads at Pre-Seed and Seed, then steps back into a smaller follow-on co-investor role at Series A alongside larger lead investors.
Recent Activity
Scale Venture Fund I, the firm's first institutional vehicle, has secured over $26M in commitments and received cornerstone backing from Breakthrough Victoria in October 2025 as part of a $75M package spread across five Victorian-backed VC funds (alongside Virescent Ventures, SYNthesis BioVentures, and Galileo Ventures). Like the other four funds, Scale committed to allocating at least 25% of Fund I capital to Victorian companies. The firm is separately reported to be pursuing a larger $100M fund, targeting a first close near $50M, built on the strength of its existing 30+ company portfolio. Before launching a formal fund, Scale operated for over a decade as Australia's first gender-lens angel syndicate, activating more than $12M of private capital from 200+ mostly-female angel investors across roughly 30 direct investments.
Portfolio Highlights
Scale's portfolio spans 47+ startups historically invested in via the angel network, now valued in aggregate at roughly $260M, including a NASDAQ-listed company and a 30x realized exit. Active, named portfolio companies include Baymatob (maternal health AI), Vitable (health/wellness subscriptions), Beamible (workforce productivity software), Airrobe (fashion resale/rental), Seer Data & Analytics, Cynch and HackHunter (cybersecurity), Handdii (insurtech), Agscent and Zondii (agtech/climate), HEX and TalkiPlay (edtech), Clean Slate, FodBods, Petcloud, HOOGA, Style Sourcebook, Lasertrade, Laronix, VeinTech, Milkdrop, Graphics et al., Mass Dynamics, Oho, and Neighbourlytics.
Team
- Samar Mcheileh, Co-CEO & Founding Partner - 15+ years in investment management and financial services; former Chief of Staff, Head of Markets Desk, and Head of Operations at JBWere; co-creator of Equity Clear, a gender pay/cap-table transparency initiative recognized on Fortune's Change the World list.
- Chelsea Newell, Co-CEO & Founding Partner - 10 years in financial services, previously Business Manager at JBWere with prior experience in London wealth management and equity brokerage; focuses on founder-investor relationships, deal origination, and formalizing due diligence and investor onboarding.
- Roo Harris, Chief Investment Officer & Founding Partner - Background in commercial law advising on venture deals globally; achieved a 27x return on an early personal startup investment; board member for disability-tech startups and adviser to T-EDI Standards; advocate for neurodivergent and disability communities.
- Solai Valliappan, Partner - Sydney-based; brings actuarial and tech-investment background to the partnership, joining after the 2023 management buyout.
The current ownership team took over via a management buyout completed in 2023 from Scale's founders (Susan Oliver AM, Carol Schwartz AO, Annette Kimmitt AM, and Laura McKenzie), converting the organization from a not-for-profit angel network into a for-profit venture firm.
Decision Process
Scale runs a four-stage process: (1) deal screening via an online pitch form and 1:1 meetings, (2) two-phase due diligence covering operations, technology, financials, and customer interviews, (3) legal due diligence and agreement execution, and (4) deal execution, fund transfer, and founder onboarding. Decisions are made by the founding partnership rather than a single GP or a large investment committee. Founders who don't pass screening are invited to reapply after a minimum of six months if there has been significant progress.
Founder Preferences
Beyond the gender-equity mandate, Scale looks for experienced, capable teams with a business-building track record and a strong bias toward founders with lived experience of the problem they're solving. They weigh a clear and pressing problem, a scalable technology model that doesn't require proportional headcount growth, a large and validated addressable market (with a bias toward female-skewed markets), defensible IP or competitive advantage, a sustainable revenue model, early traction metrics, and 10x+ exit potential.
Geographic Focus
Primarily Australian companies, with up to 20% of portfolio capital permitted outside Australia under the fund's structure. Scale Venture Fund I carries a structural requirement, tied to its Breakthrough Victoria cornerstone investment, to deploy at least 25% of capital into Victorian companies.