Sequoia launches fellowship program for female founders in India and SEA

Sequoia Capital India has launched a fellowship program for female founders in Southeast Asia and India in an effort to encourage more women to pursue entrepreneurial endeavors.

Photo credit: Sequoia Capital

As part of the Spark initiative, Sequoia India will offer a US$100,000 grant to each of the 15 women entrepreneurs chosen, whose startups are at the pre-launch or pre-product-market-fit stage.

Each founder will be matched with a startup founder from Sequoia India’s portfolio. The mentors will work closely with the female entrepreneurs over a 12-month period.

“Gender diversity is good for any society and every economy. Different perspectives, experiences, and points of view help drive innovation,” the company said in a statement. “By encouraging more women to start companies, we hope to increase the top of the funnel for all venture firms, including ours.”

Spark Fellowship recipients will also have access to select Surge sessions and support from Sequoia India specialists across hiring, legal, finance, product, technology, and marketing.

See also: Did Sequoia India do enough due diligence on Telio?

The initiative will also include a monthly series of webinars, called Spark Talks, that feature women in leadership roles across the globe. Meanwhile, Spark Studios is made up of small group sessions with Sequoia India specialists.

Last month, Surge unveiled 23 early-stage startups for its fifth cohort, which is the accelerator program’s largest to date. The companies in the program will receive a total funding of US$55 million from Surge and co-investors.