Men have always dominant the venture capital industry in India. In recent years, VC firms have made an effort to employ more women in earlier stages of investing, which could mean that later on, these women could become the top female venture capitalists in India.
A massive fundraising boom in 2021 that saw businesses raise over $35 billion allowed more investors—regardless of gender—to join the fray. Men still hold a disproportionate amount of authority, according to some, because they are the ones who make decisions. Here we’ll see the top 5 female investor in India.
Top 5 Female VC Investors In India
WinPE Founder, Nupur Garg
WinPE is a project to increase gender diversity in the investment environment that is non-profit. Like several other industries, PE/VC began as an exclusively male field. However, while other fields have changed, Garg argues that PE/VC has been hindered by ideas that men are better at handling finances and the cycle in which having fewer women in the ecosystem results in fewer women in leadership positions. Her career in finance and investing has lasted 16 years, but it all started when she enrolled at Wharton to study economics. She is one of the top female venture capitalists India. She began her career as an analyst at Goldman Sachs, where she completed numerous deals, including mergers, acquisitions, and equity financing.
Harsha Kumar, Partner, Lightspeed India
Harsha Kumar is one of the popular female investors in India who attended INSEAD in Paris in 2011 and decided to pursue a career in product management rather than venture capital. She joined the gaming company Zynga, overseeing the global sales of two of its most popular titles. She then discovered Ola, a ride-hailing business searching for someone with experience creating products from scratch. The year 2020 saw Lightspeed India raise its third specifically designated India fund, totalling $275 million. The firm’s six partners include only one woman, Kumar, and 17 of its 36 workers are female, making it unusual among Indian venture capital firms to have a virtually equal gender distribution.
Lavanya Ashok, Partner, Trifecta Capital
After receiving her MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, Lavanya Ashok returned to Goldman as employee number three in the Mumbai-based growth equity investing unit. Lavanya Ashok rose through the ranks to become managing director for PE. She concentrated on investments in various industries, such as technology, financial services, consumer goods, health care, and logistics. She was in charge of many investments and over $1 billion in successful exits.
Lavanya Ashok became a general partner at Trifecta Capital in October of last year. One of India’s first debt funds which is venture, Trifecta Capital, launched a growth find which is equity in nature complementing its current loan fund last year. She is one of the best female investors in India.
With cofounder partners Rahul Khanna and Nilesh Kothari on team development, capital formation, investing, and portfolio construction, as well as monitoring portfolio firms and generating returns, Ashok is in charge of all facets of the company’s operations. She is considered the top female venture capitalist who was a leadership team member that helped the pandemic announce four agreements and raise over Rs. 1,300 crore for its growth equity fund, and close two or three more deals soon.
Anjali Sosale, Partner, WaterBridge Ventures
Anjali Sosale is one of the top female venture capitalists who launched Fast Forward last year to accelerate seed rounds. All requests for seed financing are expected to hear back from the programme within a week, and if they are accepted, a term sheet will be sent out immediately. Fifteen VCs or venture capitalists from several funds, including Eximius, Ankur Capital, Inflection Point, Enzia, are also represented by Fast Forward.
To build a domestic early-stage venture capital fund to invest in software projects focusing on Bharat, Rema Subramanian and Ritu Verma founded Ankur Capital in 2014. Economic Times reported in March that the fund had raised 330 crores before the second fund’s interim closing. It raised its inaugural fund in 2017 for 50 crore rupees; since then, its vintage fund has sponsored 14 startups.
Alka Goel, Founding partner, Alkemi Growth Capital
Alka Goel joined McKinsey after receiving her degree from IIM Ahmedabad in 2000, and in 2003–04 he relocated to the firm’s New York office. She expanded her PE knowledge at McKinsey and quickly rose to a partner position. She also worked in developing markets like Russia, Turkey, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and India. But she was always aware of what was happening in India, and when more information about the booming Indian marketplaces came to light, she realised she had to go.
She is one of the best female investors in India and has been investing for around 15 months and is currently developing a second fund with a nearly $70-100 million target. Although there is a gender pay difference in every ecosystem, a senior person in the sector claims that there are some businesses where the male managing partner earns most of the profits. At the same time, the female executives get much less—especially given the degree of variability used to determine total compensation. Additionally, many studies have shown that when it comes to remuneration, raises, and promotions, women do not negotiate well.
Conclusion
Women have always been the strength and backbone of our society. Thus, they’ve also come a long way in the financial sector. The above-mentioned top female venture capitalists have made India proud. But to reach them to fund you, you need a good platform where you can get their insights and contact information for the right pitch, Here comes, InvestorBase, which is an AI-based platform that bridges the gap between the founders and venture capitalists in India.
