US-based investment firm AWE launches Rs 350 crore maiden fund targeting India

Seema Chaturvedi, Founder Partner, AWE Funds

US-based gender-focused investment platform, Achieving Women Equity or AWE, on August 4, launched its maiden India-focused fund of Rs 350 crore. With the development, AWE has joined the list of funds like Sequoia India, Elevation Capital, and Accel India which have launched new funds focusing on investment in India.

The SEBI registered firm said the newly launched fund will invest in about 15 startups over the next five years. The fund will be focused on investing early-stage bets in Healthcare, Climate and Sustainability Clean, Green, Circular and Water, Food and Agriculture, Education, and Fintech, said AWE in a statement.

Founded by Seema Chaturvedi to promote gender equity and sustainability, AWE has set a goal of empowering 30 million women by 2030 through investments in women-owned, led, or influenced companies.

“The need for women to join the mainstream economic value creation has gained serious urgency, especially in the setting of an overall scarcity of resources to achieve sustainable development goals. We have been investing with a gender lens that delivers sustainable economic development and commercial returns, and our richly experienced on-the-ground team in India will help us successfully champion a gender-inclusive ecosystem,” said Chaturvedi.

The company said it has investments from both international and India-based institutional and high-net-worth individuals (HNI) including Zia Mody, Founder of AZB & Partners, and Soumya Rajan, Founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Waterfield Advisors, among others.

The firm also said it warehouses four portfolio companies namely Freshokartz Agri Pvt Ltd, Blackburn Technologies Pvt Ltd, Agam International, and Velmeni.ai.

Lately, many marquee venture capital firms have launched funds focused on investments in India. In March, venture capital firm Accel, an investor in Flipkart, Swiggy, and Freshworks, among others, raised a $650 million fund, its seventh focusing on India.

Later in April, Elevation Capital, which has backed the likes of Swiggy, Meesho, Paytm, and Unacademy closed its fund with a corpus of $670 million, its largest fund for India to date.

More recently in June, Sequoia India and Sequoia Southeast Asia raised $2.85 billion across a set of funds, including India venture and growth funds and an $850 million Southeast Asian fund, the venture capital fund’s first dedicated fund for the Southeast Asia region.