As part of its Sequoia Spark Fellowship Programme, venture capital firm Sequoia Capital has selected 15 women-led companies.

The $1,00,000 equity-free grant is given to women entrepreneurs in India and Southeast Asia, the firm said. It will offer mentorship to 15 women-led startups and capital to cover some of the early costs of starting up, Sequoia said.

September was the last month to fill the applications. . More than 250 women founders had applied, the venture fund said.

Early-stage startups have been increasingly focussing on women entrepreneurs led startups.

“We hope to take a small but meaningful step towards addressing the gender imbalance that exists in the startup ecosystem,” Sequoia said in a statement.

The cohort will receive hands-on support from Sequoia India portfolio specialists, across legal, product, marketing, hiring, finance & technology while having access to select Surge (its accelerator programme) sessions and taking part in monthly mentorship sessions.

“The founders have been matched to a senior Sequoia India investment advisor, and to a seasoned startup founder from Sequoia Capital India’s portfolio, who will mentor them over the next 12 months,” it said.

To mobilize their seed and Series A rounds, this mentorship will help founders with the go-to-market roadmap and product.

The startups, led by 20 founders which consist of 7 from India, 7 from Southeast Asia and 1 from Middle East-building products across ed-tech, consumer internet sectors and Software as a Service.

“We were blown away by their ideas, the intensity and the passion of these applicants. Many have stellar backgrounds with deep industry experience. While some of the ideas were quite raw, the quality of those ideas was very strong,” said Sakshi Chopra, Managing Director, Sequoia India.

“We even have our first women crypto founders,” she added. According to the firm, the founders are from Indonesia, Pakistan, India, UAE and Singapore.

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