F5 Collective

F5 Collective began as a traditional venture fund backing early-stage technology companies with at least one female founder on the cap table. After deploying its first fund, the firm concluded that equity venture capital is structurally mismatched with the majority of women-owned businesses — 97% of which operate in services, health, retail and consumer, per its own research. It now operates exclusively as a non-dilutive business lender to women-owned and women-led SMEs, providing loans without equity dilution or director guarantees.

Wendy Fergie is the Chief Investment Officer. She brings over 30 years of experience across debt, private equity and financial services, including senior roles at National Mutual, AXA, AllianceBernstein and as founder of the IFM Debt team. She is also a CFA Charterholder and serves on the Advisory Board for SWEEF Capital.

The firm does not publicly disclose a proprietary sourcing channel for its lending business. Its website indicates a mission-driven, global mandate with a focus on women-owned and women-led SMEs across services, health, retail and consumer, and it operates F5 Intelligence to educate founders on credit readiness, which likely serves as a top-of-funnel engagement tool.

F5 Collective co-authored and helped pass SB 54, a first-of-its-kind California law that requires venture capital firms operating in the state to publicly report demographic data on the founders they fund. The firm was formally acknowledged on the floor of the California State Senate for this work. Its website frames the bill as part of a structural advocacy effort to create transparency and accountability in capital flows.

No. After fully deploying its first venture fund — which backed companies including uPaged, Mass Dynamics, Xakiatech and Givvable — the firm fully transitioned to a business lending model. Its current capital is deployed as loans, not equity, and the firm explicitly states it does not seek ownership stakes or director guarantees.

The firm’s lending model concentrates on services, health, retail and consumer — the sectors where its own research says most women-owned businesses operate. Its prior Fund 1, however, backed technology companies across health-tech, enterprise software and media, suggesting the firm retains analytical capacity in tech even though its lending products target a different set of industries.

The firm is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, with a distributed international team. Key named professionals include CIO Wendy Fergie, founder Kelly Kimball, leader Tracey Warren, Divya Reddy and Levent Shevki. Firm headcount and AUM are not publicly disclosed.