Sequoia India became the backbone of women-led startups for the first time

India is the home to the world’s third-largest start-up eco eagle system and still, only 5% comprise of women startup founders. in a report by Inc42, on an average of 16% of leadership positions and 9% of board members in any Unicorn startup are occupied by women. 

When we come on a debate to enhance the role of women in the workplace it intensifies with each year. despite all the efforts it is still a fact let out of 10 only two women would be the board members in India.

For the current scenario uh good news has been given by Sequoia India. Sequoia has announced the list of 15 women-led, early-stage startups that have made it to the first companionship of the Sequoia Spark Fellowship Program. 

The convincing 15 startups include seven companies from India, seven from Southeast Asia, and one from the Middle East.

The venture capital firm will offer a $1,00,000 equity-free grant to cover the early costs and provide full guide mentorship to women entrepreneurs selected for the fellowship. 

The program become a bridge for the gender gap in the startup ecosystem. The saying would be done primarily by encouraging many women in Southeast Asia and India to become entrepreneurs.

The list of seven selected startups from India is as follow

• Nestery, a single stop for curated parenting and childcare products; 
• Linecraft AI, an industrial Internet of things (IoT) startup; 
• Loop Panel, that helps transform customer conversations into actionable insights;
• Early Steps, which offers live online classes on all necessary subjects of the 21st century.
• Jify, a fintech, which aims to empower employees with complete flexibility and access to their earnings in real-time;  
• Findeed focuses on working-class Indians. 
• There is also Nume Crypto, which looks after making crypto transactions simple and economical. Nume Crypto was founded by former Amazon employees Niveda Harishankar and Madhumitha Harishankar.

“We were blown away by the 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. Selecting 15 startups was an incredibly hard process that took many months. But we are very excited to see how this cohort has shaped up. We even have our first women crypto founders!,” said Sakshi Chopra, MD, Sequoia India.

Each of the founders has been matched to a senior Sequoia India investment advisor, and to a seasoned startup founder from Sequoia Capital India’s portfolio, who will guide them in the coming 12 months tenure.

Well, we all hope that this support for the Indian women in their startup journeys increases with time to a point where India may finally become who do women role models. Establish an economy that will turn into a support system for all the women aspirants to provide more opportunities for their growth. 

Till then Stay safe and keep thriving