Sequoia Capital, a venture capital firm, has announced the launch of the Sequoia Spark Fellowship, a year-long programme combining capital and deep, immersive mentorship.

The Sequoia Spark Fellowship aims to inspire more women in India and Southeast Asia to build companies by increasing their access to capital, mentorship, knowledge and network. Applications for the programme are now open.

The programme will provide 15, no strings attached $100,000 grants to women-led, early-stage startups. Additionally, the entrepreneurs will get deep, immersive 1:1 mentorship with a Sequoia investment advisor and founder every month, access to select Sequoia events and hands-on support from its specialists across India and South East Asia. The cohort kicks off in November 2021. 

Team Sequoia, in a note, stated, 

“Sequoia India will offer a $100,000 fellowship to 15 women entrepreneurs per year in India and Southeast Asia whose startups are at the prelaunch or pre-PMF (product-market fit) stage. Recipients will receive structured one-on-one mentorship with a senior Sequoia India investment advisor, who will work closely with them over a 12-month period. The $100,000 grant has no strings, no equity, nor any convertible note for Sequoia.”

Few Founder Mentors For Sequoia Spark Fellowship

• Ankiti Bose (Co-founder & CEO, Zilingo)
• Divya Gokulnath (Co-founder, BYJU’S)
• Jitendra Gupta (Founder & CEO, Jupiter)
• Vidit Aatrey (Founder & CEO, Meesho)
• Kunal Shah (Founder, CRED)
• Tanushree Nagori (Co-founder, Doubtnut)
• Lalit Keshre (Co-founder & CEO, Groww)

Sequoia is also expanding its program to offer more sessions and events to the wider community of women entrepreneurs across the region through Spark Talks, Spark Studios and Spark Coffee Chats. 

The recipients of the Spark Fellowship will also have access to select Surge sessions. They will also have access to hands-on support from Sequoia India portfolio specialists across finance, hiring, legal, product, technology and marketing.

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