Sequoia picks 15 startups for 1st batch of female founders program

Sequoia Capital India has chosen 15 startups for Sequoia Spark Fellowship, a new program for female founders in Southeast Asia and India.

Photo credit: Sequoia Spark Fellowship

The program’s first batch comprises 15 companies powered by 20 female founders from sectors including edtech, fintech, software as a service (SaaS), and cryptocurrency. The founders are from India, Pakistan, Singapore, Indonesia, and Dubai.

The startups, which are at the pre-launch or pre-product-market-fit stage, will each get a US$100,000 grant from Sequoia.

“They’ll take part in monthly mentorship sessions, have access to select Surge sessions, and receive hands-on support from Sequoia India portfolio specialists across hiring, legal, finance, product, technology, and marketing,” said the VC firm in a statement.

Each founder has been matched to two mentors: a senior Sequoia India investment advisor and to a startup founder from the firm’s portfolio. The program is expected to last around 12 months.

Here are the winners of the first Sequoia Spark Fellowship:

• Airschool, a Singapore-based SaaS tool that makes it easy for experts and brands to launch their online course business, build an audience and make money
• Ascend Now, a edtech platform based in Singapore that allows students to choose what, how and why they learn while providing them with a strong, well-rounded academic profile for college
• Early Steps Academy, a Bengaluru-headquartered platform offering live online classes on over 1,000 essential subjects like bioengineering, entrepreneurship, and cryptocurrency
• Findeed, a financial services platform for working-class Indians
• Finllect, a platform based in Dubai that helps users build credit scores, access credit, and unlock better financial opportunities.
• Friz, a Singapore-based neobank aimed at freelancers in South and Southeast Asia
• Jify, a startup that enables employees in India to instantly access, track, save and manage their pay
• Linecraft AI, a India-based SaaS platform that optimizes manufacturing lines
• Loop Panel, an Indian startup that helps convert customer conversation data into shareable, actionable insights
• Milky Way AI, a computer vision-powered mobile app that allows consumer packaged goods brands in Singapore to gain real-time insights on their products stocked across millions of store shelves
• Nume Crypto, a startup that makes cryptocurrency-based payment transactions easy to initiate and economical to process
• Rowy, a open-source, low-code platform based in Singapore that allows developers to build prototypes that scale in a visual and intuitive way
• Sribuu, a personal finance management platform that provides a 360 overview of finances for young users in Indonesia
• The Nestery, a one-stop shop for curated parenting and childcare products
• A startup in stealth mode

Applications for second batch of Spark Fellowship will open in the second quarter of 2022.