Bengaluru entrepreneur to float $1bn venture fund

Bengaluru-based venture capitalist, Ankita Vashishta, will launch a $1 billion venture capital fund to assist 1,000 women-led or women-focused start-ups in India and overseas in the next five years.

To start with, her venture firm, StrongHer Ventures, floated a $100 million venture fund to fund women start-ups in fintech, future of work, healthcare, consumer, and Web 3.0 that comprises crypto (NXT), metaverse, blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning, etc.

“We will be a billion-dollar venture fund platform in the next five years, the largest in the world for women. Our plan is to launch at least five more venture funds focused on diverse domains to support the growth of the female economy in multiple geographies,’‘ Ms. Vashistha, founder and managing partner, StrongHer Ventures told The Hindu.

StrongHer Ventures will launch another $350 million fund next year, while four more funds will be ready for launches in a phased manner after that, she said.

“Currently, our existing fund caters only to female ventures in India and the U.S. However, new funds will cover women entrepreneurs across Europe, Latin America, MENA (the Middle East and North Africa) regions – mostly untapped markets from where a lot of women are beginning to participate in businesses,’‘ she added

They will try to create a global connect and a comparison between developing and emerging markets to support and grow the female economy, she explained.

According to Ms. Vashishta, who has over 14 years of global experience in tech Ventures, innovation, private equity, and venture capital across the U.K., the U.S., and Asia, the firm’s existing $100 million fund will be enough to fund over 100 entrepreneurs and the company has already invested in nine ventures.

It was a few years ago that Ms. Vashistha launched her maiden venture capital fund ‘SAHA Fund’, raising $10 million from individuals, family offices, corporates, institutions and foundations and also from SIDBI, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Ranjan Pai of Manipal Group, etc to promote and invest in women entrepreneurship and technology.

“The success of my first global gender-centric fund gave me a lot of confidence and gave me an understanding of the need of growing the female economy globally,” she added.