Gone are those days when women were confined within the four walls of the kitchen. Today, from sports to business, women are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the world; dominating every sphere unabashedly and fearlessly.
And as more and more women are realizing the significance of being financially independent, India is experiencing a great surge in the number of female entrepreneurs. However, the number of female entrepreneurs is still low as compared to men as seven out of 100 entrepreneurs in India are women.
Nonetheless, female entrepreneurs are excelling with their ideas and execution techniques. Some are even becoming business motivational speakers to help others who are trying to make a mark in their respective fields. But despite their good ideas, they are facing challenges when it comes to funding. Here is a list of five VC funding firms that are helping women entrepreneurs in India:
1. Kalaari Capital
Founded by a true leader Vani Kola, Kalaari Capital is a leading VC that strives hard to help founders succeed and flourish in the business world. Vani is referred to as The Mother of Venture Capitalism in India, and there is a reason behind it. Kalaari Capital is an early-stage, technology-focused venture capital firm with $650 Mn in assets. Based out of Bengaluru, it has been empowering visionary entrepreneurs since 2006. Not content with being one of the first homegrown VC firms in India with a steadily growing list of startups in its portfolio, Kalaari launched Kstart, a seed fund initiative, in 2016.
Kstart focuses solely on seed-stage funding and differs from other funds in that it doesn’t set a valuation at the time a startup is raising funds from it. Kalaari has built a reputation for picking the best young minds and mentoring them to build successful enterprises, some prime examples being Myntra, Urban Ladder, Zivame, Power2SME, YourStory, and Bluestone, among others.
2. LetsVenture
Founded in 2013, LetsVenture provides a common platform for startups and investors alike to connect. LetsVenture works with startups and investors on discovery, syndication, and closure. This involves managing due diligence and paperwork closure. There are 12000+ startups and 2200+ investors on the platform. Founded by Shanti Mohan LetsVenture has enabled more than 100 startups to raise over $40mn. Since its inception in 2013, LetsVenture has facilitated over $100 million in investments. Startups like Testbook, DailyNinja, Wishberry, MyUpchar, and Ketto as part of its portfolio, have 3,700 members.
3. Saha Fund
Founded by Ankita Vashista, Saha Fund is a Bangalore-based venture capital and private equity firm. Saha Fund is India’s (and Asia’s) first venture capital fund that promotes women's entrepreneurship and is dedicated to making investments in women-led companies across different sectors. Saha is keen on companies that use technology to scale. If you too have a startup and are looking for funding, you can watch this video by Dr. Vivek Bindra- the best motivational speaker in India:
4. She Capital
According to research conducted by She Capital, when women business owners pitch their ideas to investors for early-stage capital, they receive significantly less - a disparity that averages more than $1 million - than men. Hence, to encourage more women to participate in the Indian startup ecosystem and take on the boys’ club in the Indian unicorn ecosystem, Founder and former CEO of Mydala, Anisha Singh launched an early-stage venture capital fund, She Capital. The company was founded with a belief to help the next generation of phenomenal female-led businesses scale to their maximum potential.
5. Qualcomm Ventures India
Founded in the year 2000, Qualcomm Ventures is the $1 billion venture capital arm of global tech giant Qualcomm, and the arm is highly optimistic about India’s technology-driven startup ecosystem. The firm believes in diversity and encourages different points of view and aims to help connect entrepreneurs to the resources, relationships, and deep industry expertise they need to succeed in the entrepreneur journey.
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