SUMMARY
The cohort features 14 startups and 16 female founders
The four-month long program will include a $100K equity-free grant
The cohort features four startups in the AI space, four in healthtech, and SaaS, B2B and consumer businesses startups
Venture capital firm Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India) has announced the third cohort of its women entrepreneurs-focussed Spark programme, with 14 startups and 16 female founders.
The four-month-long Spark 03 programme will include an equity-free grant of $100K. It is designed to offer access to domain knowledge, mentorship, a curated community of female founders and exclusive events.
The cohort has four startups focused on developing AI solutions in travel, fraud detection, wholesale trade and ecommerce. The other four startups are focused on healthcare, while the remaining companies are engaged in building SaaS, B2B and consumer businesses.
The list includes RaptorX.ai, FOBOH, Traverse, Wordsworth AI, BabyMD, Soulside, Evenly, Profit Peak, Fix My Curls, Meritic, Melvvi, CHOSEN and A-Sourced among others.
Each startup will also get over $1 Mn in perks from other companies from cloud credits to devtools, analytics and much more.
“Out of the many applications we received for this cohort of Spark, these 16 founders really impressed us with their ambition, first principles thinking and rich operating experience. Many of them are second-time founders. We’re excited to see them develop into leaders of tomorrow,” said Peak XV’s MD Sakshi Chopra.
It is pertinent to mention here that to date, Spark has three cohorts covering 48 founders and 41 startups across 10 sectors.
This comes at a time when women-led startups are seeing a downturn when it comes to securing funding. In 2023, women-led startups raised $480 Mn+, around an 80% decline compared to $2.4 Bn+ secured in the previous year, according to Inc42’s Indian Tech Startup Funding 2023 Report.
Also, it is pertinent to note that VCs not backing women entrepreneurs in their entrepreneurial journey was also recently highlighted by Union minister Smriti Irani.
Here’s A Rundown Of 14 Selected Startups:
A-Sourced
Founder: Sisi Song
Yet to be launched
Sector: SaaS
Building an AI-powered consignment platform that eliminates middlemen wholesalers to help retailers source and customize products directly from manufacturers at factory prices.
BabyMD
Founder: Deeksha Senguttuvan
Founded in: January 2024
Headquarters: Bengaluru, India
Sector: Healthtech
BabyMD is a full-stack pediatric service, complete with primary-care offline clinics that are supplemented with 24×7 AI-assisted access to a team of doctors, and a focus on low-penetrated specialties for holistic child development, including behavioral health.
CHOSEN By Dermatology
Founder: Dr Renita Rajan
Founded in: January 2020
Headquarters: Chennai, India
Sector: Healthtech
Develops high-performance skin care products with its cosmeceutical and nutraceutical offerings sold through its e-commerce platform.
Evenly Clinic
Founders: Aastha Pitalia, Shraddha Pitalia
Founded in: March 2023
Headquarters: Bengaluru, India
Sector: Healthtech
Chain of dermatology clinics that focus on providing cutting-edge treatments by specialised dermatologists.
Fix My Curls
Founder: Anshita Mehrotra
Founded in: April 2019
Headquarters: Gurugram, India
Sector: Healthtech
Hair care brand focused on developing products for curly and textured hair.
FOBOH
Founders: Kshitija Deshmukh and Bethany Lovell
Founded in: May 2023
Headquarters: Sydney, Australia
Sector: SaaS
Online solution provider for food services suppliers and distributors disseminating data and tech to reduce costs and increase revenue.
Melvvi
Founder: Biswajita Mishra
Yet to be launched
Melvvi develops handmade and sustainable lifestyle products.
Meritic
Founder: Pallavi Chakravorty
Founded in: June 2023
Headquarters: Boston, US
Sector: SaaS
Offers businesses advanced generative AI tools to automate mundane tasks and improve efficiencies.
Profit Peak
Founder: Carla Penn-Kahn
Founded in: November 2022
Headquarters: Sydney, Australia
Sector: SaaS
SaaS platform that aims to provide e-commerce businesses with actionable data insights to boost profitability.
RaptorX.ai
Founder: Pratyusha Vemuri
Founded in: April 2023
Sector: SaaS
Headquarters: India
Offers AI-powered fraud detection and prevention tools to help businesses assess cyber risks by monitoring behaviour metrics, interactive graphs and real-time transactions.
Soulside
Founder: Surabhi Bhandari
Founded in: October 2022
Headquarters: San Francisco, US
Sector: Healthtech
Offers an AI-powered mental health platform enabling mental health professionals to deliver video and text-based group support for high-risk adults.
Traverse
Founder: Sushmita Rawat
Yet to be launched
Headquarters: Bengaluru, India
Sector: Traveltech
The startup aims to offer AI insights for traveling.
Wordsworth AI
Founder: Harsha Mulchandani
Yet to be launched
Headquarters: New York, US
Sector: Ecommerce
The startup aims to utilise AI to optimise users’ online shopping journeys.
