Australia’s shopper economic system is booming however traders are nonetheless trying the opposite approach. Whereas capital chases SaaS and tech, a brand new era of brand-led, margin-rich, culturally related companies are scaling quick with billions flowing via magnificence, wellness, trend, meals, and life-style.
This isn’t hypothesis. It’s already occurring.
From blockbuster exits like Zimmermann and MCo Magnificence to the rise of Showpo and extra, Australia’s shopper sector is producing a few of the most dynamic and worthwhile manufacturers.
And but, the capital stack hasn’t caught up – particularly for ladies.
Regardless of constructing within the very sectors driving demand, women-owned companies stay systemically underfunded, underserved, and ignored. That’s not only a funding hole. It’s a market failure.
At F5, we see it in a different way.
We imagine shopper is the place the following decade of progress will come from and ladies are finest positioned to guide it.
The market potential: Large numbers, larger upside
Australia’s shopper economic system isn’t rising – it’s exploding.
The patron items retailing sector is forecast to hit A$252.7 billion in 2025, with constant year-on-year progress. However that’s only the start.
E-commerce alone is now a A$45 billion market (US$30B) and projected to soar to over A$76 billion (US$51B) by 2034 – a gentle 5 -6% CAGR over the following decade.
In 2023, over 80% of Australian households (9.5 million houses) shopped on-line, a dramatic acceleration from pre-COVID behaviours. In 2024, Australians spent A$63.6 billion on-line, making up 16.8% of whole retail spend, up from simply 10% a couple of years in the past.
Showpo founder Jane Lu
And the momentum isn’t slowing.
On-line retail turnover climbed to A$69 billion in 2024, marking a 12 % year-on-year enhance with double-digit progress persevering with throughout key shopper classes.
Trying forward, the whole Australian retail sector is anticipated to succeed in A$725 billion by 2034.
This isn’t a distinct segment pattern, shopper is the place the following decade of wealth, model energy, and funding returns will probably be created.
Non-public fairness (PE) is paying consideration however it’s a late participant
Companies like L Catterton, TPG Progress, Creation Worldwide, and Bain Capital have constructed total world portfolios round high-growth shopper manufacturers producing outsized returns via good working leverage, class dominance, and cultural warmth.
- L Catterton, backed by LVMH, has invested in names like Birkenstock, The Trustworthy Firm, and Savage x Fenty, with a number of $1B+ outcomes.
- Creation acquired Zimmermann in one of many largest trend model offers in Australian historical past – reportedly valuing the enterprise at over A$1 billion.
In Australia, mid-market PE is already conscious of the ability of shopper:
- Pacific Fairness Companions (PEP) manages over A$10 billion, with strategic shopper investments of their portfolio.
- Quadrant Non-public Fairness, Crescent Capital, Archer Capital, and BBRC Non-public Fairness (based by retail mogul Brett Blundy) have backed family names like Adore Magnificence, Barbeques Galore, and Craveable Manufacturers.
- DBG Group’s proprietor, billionaire Dennis Bastas, accomplished a full acquisition of MCoBeauty in a deal reportedly valuing the corporate at AU$1 billion
However right here is the catch: non-public fairness intentionally arrives late to the occasion.
MCoBeauty founder Shelley Sullivan
Most PE funds solely step in as soon as a enterprise is already hitting A$10-20 million in income or EBITDA and lengthy after the model has nailed product–market match, scaled its operations, and constructed a fiercely loyal buyer base.
The early scale stage, the place most Australian women-owned manufacturers are proper now continues to be largely ignored.
And but, that is the richest floor for returns: low competitors, increased margins, sooner progress velocity, and the power to maintain founders accountable for their fairness.
The subsequent era of breakout manufacturers is already in movement. They simply haven’t crossed PE’s conventional thresholds but and we imagine that hole is the most important alternative.
The true alternative: $500K – $20M
Most girls-owned manufacturers can hustle their strategy to A$500K in income via bootstrapping, grit, and DTC momentum.
However breaking via from there to A$20M+, the place non-public fairness lastly takes discover? That’s the place the system fails.
Between A$500K and A$20M lies the capital useless zone – a funding hole for ladies that nobody needs to speak about.
These manufacturers are:
- Too massive for microfinance.
- Too consumer-driven for conventional VC.
- Too early for personal fairness.
- Too “dangerous” for outdated credit score fashions constructed for factories, not fashionable shopper manufacturers.
And but, that is the make-or-break runway, the important stage the place manufacturers both scale into class leaders or stall out completely. It’s additionally the place the upside is the best: market share continues to be up for grabs, progress velocity is at its peak, and founder fairness can nonetheless be preserved.
That is precisely why we constructed F5, to fund the following wave of breakout women-owned manufacturers and capitalise on a possibility the market doesn’t see coming.
F5’s reply: an entire new capital system for ladies
We didn’t guess. We did the work.
From growing our Idea of Change to working hands-on with a whole bunch of girls founders, we’ve got hung out listening and mapping how girls really construct and develop shopper manufacturers and pressure-testing what capital merchandise speed up progress and which of them quietly maintain girls again.
Now, we’re launching our first-of-its-kind proprietary credit score mannequin designed solely for contemporary shopper manufacturers. This isn’t retrofitted from industrial-era lending. It isn’t tailored from microfinance. It isn’t a pinkwashed model of conventional VC.
It’s constructed from scratch, by girls, for ladies.
Our mannequin is constructed for the truth of scaling a women-owned model as we speak the place model fairness, product velocity, and margin matter greater than ARR.
And we’ve got constructed the infrastructure to match: a commerce, media, and operational stack that takes a model from market visibility to logistics, and provide chain execution.
This pilot is simply step one in our multi-tier capital roadmap – funding merchandise designed particularly for ladies and the companies they construct, with a system engineered to unlock the size stage the place as we speak’s largest alternatives dwell.
We’re not fixing the previous system. We constructed a greater one.
Why it issues for Australia and F5
Girls globally dominate shopper, retail, wellness, magnificence, meals, and parenting sectors. But capital has constantly skewed towards tech classes that underrepresent them.
F5 is right here to rebuild the monetary infrastructure round their progress curve.
With the Australian shopper market within the a whole bunch of billions, and billions now shifting on-line yearly, the chance is not speculative, it’s actual, pressing, and scalable.
F5 isn’t simply investing in women-owned companies – we’ve got constructed the whole engine behind their progress, and we’re able to launch.
