Sequoia Capital India has announced the launch of Sequoia Spark, a fellowship programme for Southeast Asian and Indian women founders.
Sequoia India will award a $100,000 fellowship to 15 female entrepreneurs in India and Southeast Asia each year whose startups are in the pre-launch or pre-PMF (product-market fit) stage.
Recipients will receive structured one-on-one mentoring from a senior Sequoia India investment advisor over a 12-month period. Sequoia receives a $100,000 grant with no strings attached, no equity, and no convertible note.
Each recipient will also be paired with a startup founder from Sequoia India's portfolio to serve as a founder mentor.
“By encouraging more women to start companies, we hope to increase the top of the funnel for all venture firms, including ours,” Sequoia said in a statement.
Spark Fellows will also have access to select Surge sessions as well as hands-on support from Sequoia India portfolio specialists in hiring, legal, finance, product, technology, and marketing.
In November 2021, the first Spark Fellowship programme will begin. Applications will be accepted until September 15th.
Prior to 2020, Spark was a programme that centred on office hours with female founders.
“Our goal is to encourage more women to build companies, to inspire more women to lead and build for the future. This is just a small step in that direction for us,” it stated in the note.
By 2020, only 12% of venture-backed startups in India and 20% in ASEAN will have at least one female founder.
Sequoia Capital is a venture capital firm based in the United States. The firm is based in Menlo Park, California, and primarily serves the technology industry. It has backed companies with a combined stock market value of $1.4 trillion. Sequoia manages a number of investment funds, including those focused on India and Southeast Asia, Israel, and China. The firm has offices in Menlo Park, Singapore, Bengaluru, Mumbai, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, London and Tel Aviv.
