Fifteen Women-led companies have been selected by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital as part of its Sequoia Spark Fellowship programme.
The $1,00,000 equity-free grant is given to women entrepreneurs in India and Southeast Asia, the firm said. It will offer mentorship to 15 women-led startups and capital to cover some of the early costs of starting up, Sequoia said.
The applications for the programme closed in September. More than 250 women founders had applied, the venture fund said.
Women entrepreneurs have been increasingly approached by early-stage funds.
“We hope to take a small but meaningful step towards addressing the gender imbalance that exists in the startup ecosystem,” Sequoia said in a statement.
The cohort will have access to select Surge (its accelerator programme) sessions, take part in monthly mentorship sessions, and receive hands-on support from Sequoia India portfolio specialists, across, legal, product, marketing, hiring, finance and technology.
“The founders have been matched to a senior Sequoia India investment advisor, and to a seasoned startup founder from Sequoia Capital India’s portfolio, who will mentor them over the next 12 months,” it said.
To mobilize their seed and Series A rounds, this mentorship will be able to help founders with the product and go-to-market roadmap.
Led by 20 founders, these startups, seven from India, seven from Southeast Asia and one from Middle East-building products across ed-tech, consumer internet sectors, and Software as a Service.
“We were blown away by their ideas, the intensity and the passion of these applicants. Many have stellar backgrounds with deep industry experience. While some of the ideas were quite raw, the quality of those ideas was very strong," said Sakshi Chopra, managing director, Sequoia India.
“We even have our first women crypto founders,” she added. The founders come from India, Indonesia, UAE, Pakistan and Singapore, according to the firm.
