Tag: Women-Led Startups

Categories
Startup

5 Top VC Funding Firms Focusing On Women-Led Startups

5 Top VC Funding Firms Focusing On Women-Led Startups
5 Top VC Funding Firms Focusing On Women-Led Startups

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.

The idea of managing a business is easier said than done and we completely agree with you. This is why to help you move forward with your business goals, we at Bada Business offer an exclusive Business Coaching Program that comes with Foundation courses, specialized courses, and value-added courses. To know more, visit: www.badabusiness.com

Categories
Startup

Food Business Ideas: 4 Low-Investment and Interesting Food Businesses That You Can Try

Food Businesses in India (Photo Credits: Pexels)

If you are fascinated about cooking and want to try your luck in any food business, this year can be your year! If you are a foodie and love to make and eat food, you should try and establish a business in the food making industry. If you are planning to start a food business, you should think about: What will differentiate your product from the rest? What are successful food businesses and what do you have to do to go beyond your competitors? When starting your food business ensure you incorporate the lessons from these businesses to ensure your food business idea is a success.

One thing that you should keep in mind while starting a food business is, you should gain knowledge related to food safety and food handling practice as it is very important for your business. Here are few ideas that can help you start a food business with low-cost items which are relatively simple to keep the quality consistent.

Bakery

Do you love baking for your friends and family? If you’re a skilled cook, why don’t you sell your delicious creations? If you are good at baking and have the eye for detail for cake designs and pastries and a lot more, then no one can stop you from starting your bakery business. One thing that you should keep in mind before you start is you should be excellent at preparing recipe related to bread and biscuits. You can start this business at small scale and then depending on the demand and the reach, you can expand it.

Cooking Class

If you are really skilled in cooking and know how to tingle the taste buds, you can try starting a cooking class business. Many people desire to learn the art of cooking and tend to look for online cooking classes or a cooking tutor who can help them get away with basic cooking tricks. In the time of COVID-19, online cooking classes can fetch you good money by just sitting at home and the investment requirement for this business is very low.

Pickle Making

There will be hardly anyone who doesn’t like pickles. If the demand is so high and if you are good at making the yum spicy pickles, why don’t you give it a shot? It is one of the home based small scale business idea which will not need much money to start with. People usually prefer homemade pickles and the domestic consumption is also very high apart from the export.

Fast Food Shop

People love to eat junk food. The fast food business in India is one of the most popular food business ideas today which you can get your hands on. Apart from teenagers, people of all age groups prefer fast food during snack time.

Categories
Startup

IESC Signs Pact With FLO to Provide Guidance to Startups and Women Entrepreneurs in Becoming Job Creators

Women Entrepreneurship (Photo Credits: Pexels)

New Delhi, November 23: In a bid to provide guidance and to mentor startups and entrepreneurs to grow, the Incubation and Enterprise Support Centre (IESC) of IIM Shillong has signed an MoU with FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO). Reports inform that the IESC chairperson Sanjeeb Kakoty and FLO national president Jahnabi Phookan signed the deal for their respective organisations on Saturday. The pact is signed with the mission to generate and disseminate knowledge in all aspects of management for sustainable development and to develop innovative leaders with strong ethical values.

Under the pact, entrepreneurs who are a critical stages of starting up a new business will get nurturing, instructive and supportive environment which would increase the chance for a startups to succeed. The mentorship would shorten the time and reduce the cost of establishing and growing its business, the IIM said in a statement issued here. The new pact between two very influential organizations is just the right boost at the right time particularly for women entrepreneurs of the region.

Talking about the importance of women, particularly those in the northeastern part of India, in safeguarding the rich culture and traditions of the people, Prof Sanjeeb Kakoty felt that women were also very much responsible for keeping alive the entrepreneurial nature and spirit emanating from the region. Speaking about the work of FLO, Phookan elaborated that FLO’s vision under her presidency is to focus on ensuring sustainable practices and creating sustainable livelihoods for the economic empowerment of women towards becoming sufficient job creators than just mere job seekers.

IIM Shillong chairman Shishir Bajoria expressed confidence that this initiative could be a defining moment in impacting firstly the region and then beyond, in line with the responsibility bestowed on this premier institute of national importance in the region.

Categories
Startup

Startups in India: 6 Women-Led Startups Win COVID-19 Shri Shakti Challenge Organised by MyGov in Collaboration With UN Women

Startup
Startup (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

In a major boost to women-led startups in India, six startups by female entrepreneurs have won COVID-19 Shri Shakti Challenge organized by MyGov in collaboration with UN Women. MyGov in collaboration with UN Women, launched the COVID-19 Shri Shakti Challenge in April 2020 to encourage and involve women led startups to come up with innovative solutions that can help in the fight against COVID19 or solve problems that impact a large number of women.

After thorough screening, 25 startups were shortlisted for presentations to the Jury which included Debjani Ghosh, President NASSCOM, Rohini Srivathsa, National Technology Officer (CTO) Microsoft India, Dr R Ramanan, MD Atal Innovation Mission, Nishtha Satyam, Dy Country representative, UN Women India and Abhishek Singh, CEO MyGov. In addition to the earlier announced reward of Rs 5 lakhs for the top 3 winners, UN Women was generous enough to agree to reward Rs 2 lakhs each to the 3 startups chosen for their promising solutions.

Top 3 Female Entrepreneurs Who Won Are:

  1. Dr P Gayatri Hela is the founder of Bengaluru-based Resada Lifesciences Private Limited that designs and develops home and agricultural-based products using plant extracts instead of synthetic chemicals. As per Gayatri, germs and other bacteria/viruses become resistant to chemicals over time, whereas nature always has a way of fighting back against these organisms. For Shri Shakti Challenge, Gayatri submittedherinnovative product which is a non-alcoholic hand sanitizer that is  relevant not only for COVID- 19 but also for other infections. The idea had come to her in 2017, when she was battling the SARS pandemic with her with her one-year old daughter.
  2. Romita Ghosh,a cancer survivor, is the founder of Shimla-based iHeal HealthTech Private Limited which is a healthcare start-up that has been at the forefront of the fight against COVID and has been providing PPE kits to hospitals. Romita has also built a Made in India UV sterilization box for safe reuse of PPEs and masks that can help reduce costs for hospitals and other service providers.
  3. Dr Anjana Ramkumar and Dr Anushka Ashokan are the product manager and co-founder of Kerala based Thanmatra Innovations Private Limited have come up with the innovative solution of an anti-microbial solution that could be sprayed into handkerchiefs or dupattas for making them safe to be used as Face Masks. This also made it easier to protect kids. Their innovation is simple and scalable and can help convert any piece of cloth to anti-viral mask within minutes by a simple process of spraying and drying with their unique formulation.

Top 3 Startups identified as‘Promising Solutions’are:

  1. Vasanthi Palanivel, is the CEO & Co-Founder of Bengaluru-based Seragen BioTherapeutics Private Limited.As a scientist and researcher, she studied the symptoms and impacts of the virus and realized that the lungs were one of the worst infected organs in COVID and she has developed a plasma solution to treat respiratory distress due to COVID-19.
  2. Shivi Kapil is the cofounder of Bengaluru-based Empathy Design Labsthat focuses on healthcare, and took the pandemic as an opportunity to design solutions for pregnant women who could not go to the hospital due to risk of infection. Shehas designed Kriya, a wearable device for daily monitoring of pregnancy. The IoT-embedded product provides alerts and suggestions to expecting parents for timely action.
  3. Jaya Parashar and Ankita Parashar – a mother daughter duo are the founder and co-founder of STREAM Minds, and ed-tech company that works on promoting Science, Technology, Reading/Writing, Arts, and Mathematics education among school children across India. They have designed ‘Dobot’, a fully automated robot which acts as an in-house delivery assistant to make hospitals and healthcare clinics safe from the risks of COVID19.

MyGov congratulated the winners of Shri Shakti Challenge and hope that the solutions developed by them mature into full-blown products, and can scale up into robust solutions that help in our fight against COVID19; and of course also help address challenges facing women. All the winners and the participants of Shri Shakti Challenge are true testimony to the talent pool that exists in India and this challenge will go a long way in promoting women entrepreneurship in India.

All 25 selected startups presented their solutions to the Jury which evaluated the solutions proposed by the startups on the parameters that included innovation, usability, relevance and impact of their idea on the society. After thorough review, 11 finalists were chosen for the next stage. All the 11 selected startups were provided a prize money of Rs 75,000 each to further develop their ideas.

After giving time to the 11 Startups to develop the solutions, the final presentations were again made to the Jury on October 27, 2020. The quality of the solutions presented was excellent and the Jury had a tough time evaluating them. After intense discussions and deliberations, the Jury selected top 3 entries as winners, and in view of the high quality of solutions presented decided to recognize 3 additional entries as ‘Promising Solutions’.

This was a unique challenge hosted on the Innovate platform of MyGov that called for applications from women led startups as well as startups who have solutions that address issues faced by a larger number of women. The Challenge was implemented in two stages: Ideation stage and Proof of Concept (PoC) Stage. The challenge received an overwhelming response with a total of 1265 entries, from across the nation.

Mentorship sessions were organized to enable graduation of the ideas into Proof of Concepts that can be scaled up. These sessions were topics that included Business Modelling, Financial Modelling, Legal Certifications, Digital Marketing, Product Design, Art of making Pitch and were conducted with the support of NASSCOM, Industry Experts, and the Atal Incubation Centre  at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology.