Sequoia India, one of the biggest investors in Indian start-ups, has launched an entrepreneurship program for women called Sequoia Spark, in an effort to promote women entrepreneurs in India and Southeast Asia.
The investment firm has also said that it will expand its existing programmes to encourage more diversity in entrepreneurship.
According to Tracxn and Crunchbase, as of 2020, only 12 percent of venture-backed startups from India and 20 percent in ASEAN have a female founder. To encourage more women in entrepreneurship, Sequoia has launched its fellowship and programmes.
The Spark Fellowship
Sequoia India will offer $100,000 to 15 women entrepreneurs per year in India and Southeast Asia whose startups are at the pre-launch stage. Recipients will be given one-on-one mentorship with a senior Sequoia investment advisor for 12 months.
The expanded programmes include spark talks, a monthly webinar series, spark studios, a curated small-group session with Sequoia India specialists, and spark coffee chats, a conversation on business issues.
Some of the mentors who will help guide the women are BYJU’s co-founder, Divya Gokulnath, Groww’s co-founder and CEO Lalit Keshre and CRED’s founder Kunal Shah.
Recently, Sequoia also partnered with Niti Aayog's Women Entrepreneurship Platform for a year to promote women entrepreneurship in India.
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