Sequoia Spark Shortlists 8 Indian Startups For Its Second Cohort

Sequoia India and Southeast Asia have announced the second cohort of the Sequoia Spark (Spark02) fellowship program. The second cohort includes eight India-based and four Southeast Asia-based women entrepreneurs working in diverse sectors including climate tech, healthtech, SaaS, B2B, Web3, consumer internet and direct-to-consumer (D2C). 

As part of the program, shortlisted entrepreneurs have been provided with mentorship and an equity-free grant of $100 K. While for one-to-one mentorship, the program has clubbed each of the shortlisted women entrepreneur with a seasoned startup founder from Sequoia India and Southeast Asia’s portfolio companies. 

Scaler’s Anshuman Singh, Mad Street’s Ashwini Asokan, Wakefit’s Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, Insider’s Hande Cilingir, Carousell’s Siu Rui and Vymo’s Yamini Bhat are a few mentors in the program. Besides this, a senior Sequoia India and Southeast Asia investment advisor will also mentor them for the duration of the program.

According to Sequoia Capital, the mentorship will play a crucial role in helping startups build a strong product and go-to-market roadmap which, in turn, will facilitate them in raising their first rounds of funding.  

Further, the shortlisted entrepreneurs will have access to some Surge sessions.They will get mentorship from Sequoia India and Southeast Asia portfolio specialists in various fields such as hiring, product, legal, finance, product, technology and marketing.

Out of the 12 shortlisted startups, eight are based in India while the remaining four are working in Southeast Asia. Many of these startup founders hold domain expertise while some are second-time entrepreneurs and have scaled businesses earlier. 

On the other hand, the first cohort of Sequoia Spark had 15 startups and 20 female founders. Of these, 10 startups raised seed and Series A fundraising rounds from VCs and angels. One startup was acquired by Wipro, in turn, raising $51 Mn after graduating from Spark program.  

Here’s A Rundown Of Eight Selected Startups

Avataar

• Founder: Saumya Misra
• Founded in: 2022
• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Sector: Consumertech

Avataar offers at-home skin treatments including laser facials, hair reduction treatments and body polishing, among others to both men and women.

BHyve

• Founder: Omkar Pandharkame, Ketaki Ogale, Vihang Mirkhelkar
• Founded in: 2021
• Headquarters: Mumbai 
• Sector: SaaS

BHyve is building knowledge management systems for organisations that are working remotely. It aims to empower employees to connect, as well as learn, and simultaneously become productive. 

Hoop

• Founder: Twinkle Uppal, Saharsh Agarwal
• Founded in: 2022
• Headquarters: Gurugram 
• Sector: Healthtech

Hoop is a health and wellness startup targeting Indian youth. It aims to transform the wellness journey of every millennial and take good care of them.

Jollee

• Founder: Akriti Gupta
• Founded in: 2022
• Headquarters: Gurugram 
• Sector: Consumertech 

Jollee is a children-focussed startup that acts as a personalised shopping companion for kids. It provides parents with recommendations based on their child’s needs.

Mantys

• Founder: Kriti Arora, Mudit Dangi
• Founded in: 2022
• Headquarters: Bengaluru 
• Sector: SaaS

Mantys is a SaaS startup that provides business planning and analytics solutions to mid-market companies. It helps companies to track all their data particularly financial and business metrics in real time.

Plodo

• Founder: Eisha Srivastava
• Founded in: 2022
• Headquarters: Bengaluru 
• Sector: B2B

Plodo is a distribution platform that helps digital-first consumer brands launch offline operations in India. It enables independent brands to plug into its platform and get access to offline retail channels.

Teleport

• Founder: Nikita Dresswala 
• Founded in: 2022
• Headquarters: Bengaluru 
• Sector: Traveltech 

Teleport aims to make travel visa applications simple and fast for consumers. It simplifies paperwork requirements and provides reliable information to customers.

Zerocircle

• Founder: Neha Jain
• Founded in: 2022
• Headquarters: Mumbai
• Sector: Biotech

Zerocircle helps environment-conscious brands adapt low-carbon materials, which are made of regenerative resources such as seaweed.