Claire Lehmann, the Australian woman once described as "the voice of the intellectual darkweb", has secured hundreds of thousands of dollars from global investors to support the website she founded from her home in northern Sydney.

Ms Lehmann launched her site Quillette in October 2015 from her home in the northern Sydney suburb of Lindfield after becoming frustrated with what she claims is left-wing groupthink among some journalists and academics in debates about gender, race and other aspects of identity politics.

Claire Lehmann is founder of online magazine Quillette. Credit:Louie Douvis

The 33-year-old psychology graduate has argued mainstream media, particularly in the US where the Trump presidency has sparked a fierce debate about the role of the press, is dominated by journalists in a social and professional "bubble" and is not open to publishing or reading alternative views. She regularly says the purpose of Quillette is to encourage free thinking.

This approach has attracted 1 million online views a month, including some high-profile readers such as Tesla founder Elon Musk, who follows Quillette on Twitter. Roughly half of Quillette's audience lives in the US. Australian investment banker and venture capitalist Mark Carnegie is also a supporter and has poured money into a funding round scheduled to end this week.