Peak XV has announced a fellowship programme called Spark for female founders with 14 companies and 16 female founders.
The cohort includes four companies building AI solutions in travel, fraud detection, wholesale trade, and e-commerce. Another four are focused on healthcare, and the remaining companies are building SaaS, B2B, and consumer businesses.
The four-month-long programme will offer a $100,000 equity-free grant. It is open to all female founders who are in the early stages of starting up. Founders will get access to domain knowledge, mentorship, a curated community of female founders, and exclusive events. Each start-up will also receive over $1 million in perks from other companies from cloud credits to devtools, analytics, and much more.
Spark has community of start-ups now includes three cohorts, 48 founders, and 41 start-ups across 10+ sectors in less than three years.
Mentors for the programme include Peak XV’s managing directors Shailendra Singh, Sakshi Chopra, Mohit Bhatnagar, GV Ravishankar, and Rajan Anandan. Founder-mentors include Mamaearth’s Ghazal Alagh and Varun Alagh, Clevertap’s Anand Jain, Wakefit’s Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, Vivek Ramachandran, and others.
“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 Sakshi Chopra, managing director, of Peak XV.
Four companies focusing on AI include RaptorX.ai, an AI-powered fraud detection and prevention platform helping businesses assess cyber risks; FOBOH, an AI-enabled digital platform that helps food and beverage wholesalers scale sustainably, reduce waste, and get paid faster; Traverse, building at the intersection of AI and travel; and Wordsworth AI, who are building at the intersection of AI and commerce, to disrupt personalization for e-commerce businesses.
Four companies focused on Healthtech solutions include BabyMD, a full-stack paediatric service; Soulside, an AI-powered mental health platform; Evenly, a chain of dermatology clinics offering tailored services; and one company currently in stealth.
Other companies include Profit Peak, a SaaS platform aiming to provide e-commerce businesses with actionable data insights to boost profitability; Fix My Curls, a hair care brand curated to cater to naturally textured hair; Meritic, helping mid-market companies automate their reporting and analytics; Melvvi, developing handmade and sustainable lifestyle products; CHOSEN addresses the need for high-performance skincare products with cosmeceutical and nutraceutical offerings; and A-Sourced is building an AI-powered consignment platform.
