Peak XV Spark Shortlists 14 Startups For its Third Cohort

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: Beauty And Personal Care

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.

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