Women's Health Foundry
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Proposed operating model

How it works

Five linked stages from selection through partner and capital pathways, designed for translation realities in women's health.

Gates, not paperwork for its own sake

Stage gates exist so support matches venture maturity: what evidence is sufficient for the next milestone, which risks remain material, and which partner conversations are realistic now versus later.

Evidence generation is treated as a strategic sequence — not a catalogue of studies. The aim is to avoid over-building before assumptions are tested, while still meeting standards serious partners expect.

Network support is selective: introductions where diligence and governance can be maintained, and where the narrative is concrete enough to respect partners' time.

Stage definitions and partner mechanisms are being finalised.

Stage 01

Source and select

  • Identify innovations aligned to unmet need, evidence maturity, and credible venture potential.
  • Apply diligence frameworks suited to academic and clinical governance — not generic scoring templates.

Stage 02

Stage 1 de-risking

  • Fund and support work that removes the next material uncertainties: technical, regulatory, or commercial.
  • Align evidence plans with the decision that matters next for partners and investors.

Stage 03

Gate review

  • Formal checkpoint: advance, change scope, or stop — so capital is not spent on drift.
  • Transparent criteria as they are finalised; no implied guarantee of progression.

Stage 04

Stage 2 scale-up

  • Deeper build: narrative, operating plan, team gaps, and partner-ready materials.
  • Active incubation with decision-grade progress markers — subject to final operating settings.

Stage 05

Partner and capital pathways

  • Facilitate introductions where timing, diligence, and governance align across industry, clinical, and investor networks.
  • Infrastructure built with partners — not a competing parallel track.

Platform trajectory

The platform builds on ecosystem work already underway. Key milestones to date and ahead:

Oct 2024

Challenger Summit

Inaugural national biotech pitch event — $250K in grants, 10 finalists

Mar 2025

Pitch for Health 2025

First co-hosted event with St Vincent’s Curran Foundation

Feb 2026

Capital Brief publication

CEO Anthony Liveris publishes the economic case for women’s health investment

Mar 2026

Challenger Pitch for Health 2026

300+ attendees, $500K in grants, 14 live pitches across two streams

Aug–Sep 2026

AusBiotech joint program

Co-designed program with Australia’s peak biotech industry body

2026–27

Platform intake

Governance confirmed, selection criteria published, first cohort onboarded

Timelines are indicative and subject to governance and program design confirmation.

What success looks like

Success is not measured by the number of ventures admitted. It is measured by whether the platform produces investable, evidence-ready companies that attract follow-on capital and advance toward patients.

6–8 SMEs

Incubated over 5 years

Each selected through open, competitive processes with independent review. Fewer ventures, deeper support.

Majority

Progress to follow-on capital

Ventures exit the platform with evidence plans, regulatory clarity, and investor-ready narratives that attract Series A or partnership capital.

Decision-grade

Evidence plans from day one

Every venture works to evidence sequences aligned to what regulators, payers, and investors will ask for next — not generic study catalogues.

$5M

Per SME (up to)

Milestone-linked funding tied to de-risking steps, not undifferentiated runway. Capital deployed when gates are cleared.

National

Reach across institutions

Innovations sourced from universities, hospitals, and early companies across Australia — not limited to a single campus or city.

Institutional

Governance standard

Independent advisory board, conflict-of-interest protocols, and transparent reporting that meets government co-funder expectations.

The team behind delivery

Proto Axiom brings a 30-person pharma-grade operations team to platform delivery — not a small grant administration office. Capabilities span investment diligence, clinical and regulatory strategy, company building, and capital markets, led by a leadership team that has built 8 portfolio companies from Australian university science with A$45M raised across 33 investors.

Lindsay Wu, PhD

Chief Science Officer

Tony Haddad

Operating Partner

Laura Wimberger, PhD

Investment Associate

Charlie Selth

Chief of Staff

Full operator team details on the governance page.

These are aspirational targets informed by program design. Final metrics and reporting frameworks will be confirmed with governance settings.

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