Peak XV launches Spark 03 fellowship for female founders with 16 entrepreneurs
Spark is a fellowship for female founders which offers a $100,000 equity-free grant and one-to-one mentorship from the Peak XV team and founders.
Spark, Peak XV’s fellowship for female founders, has launched its latest cohort with 16 female founders from 14 companies.
According to the press release, out of the 14 companies, four are building AI solutions in travel, fraud detection, wholesale trade, and ecommerce. Another four are focused on healthcare, and the remaining companies are building SaaS, B2B, and consumer businesses.
The third cohort of Spark Fellowship is a four-month-long programme that includes a $100,000 equity-free grant.
The fellowship is open to all female founders of early-stage startups. The founders will get access to domain knowledge, mentorship, a curated community of female founders, and exclusive events. Each startup will also receive over $1 million in perks from other companies—from cloud credits to devtools, analytics and more.
Companies in the cohort offering healthtech solutions include BabyMD, a full-stack paediatric service; Soulside, an AI-powered mental health platform; Evenly, a chain of dermatology clinics offering tailored services; and one company currently in stealth.
The four companies focusing on AI are , an AI-powered fraud detection and prevention platform helping businesses assess cyber risks; FOBOH, an AI-enabled digital platform that helps food and beverage wholesalers scale sustainably, reduce waste, and get paid faster; Traverse, building at the intersection of AI and travel; and Wordsworth AI, which is building at the intersection of AI and commerce, to disrupt personalisation for ecommerce businesses.
Other notable entrants include:
- Profit Peak, a SaaS platform providing ecommerce businesses with actionable data insights to boost profitability
- Fix My Curls, a hair care brand curated to cater to naturally textured hair
- Meritic is helping mid-market companies automate their reporting and analytics
- Melvvi is developing handmade and sustainable lifestyle products
- CHOSEN, which addresses the need for high-performance skincare products with cosmeceutical and nutraceutical offerings;
- A-Sourced, an AI-powered consignment platform.
The mentors for the programme are Peak XV’s Managing Directors Shailendra Singh, Sakshi Chopra, Mohit Bhatnagar, GV Ravishankar, and Rajan Anandan. Founder-mentors include Mamaearth’s Ghazal Alagh and Varun Alagh, Clevertap’s Anand Jain, Wakefit’s Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, Vivek Ramachandran, and others.
Spark’s curated community of startups now includes three cohorts, 48 founders and 41 startups across 10+ sectors in less than three years.
Sakshi Chopra, Managing Director, Peak XV said, “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 are excited to see them develop into leaders of tomorrow."
Peak XV (formerly Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia) is a leading venture capital firm investing across India, Southeast Asia and beyond.
Edited by Kanishk Singh