Funds Pour in for Women-Oriented Startups

In the first eight months of 2016, as many as 670 startups in India were given funding. Only 21 of these were run by women. However, the past week has uncharacteristically seen a surge in funding for companies run by women entrepreneurs and in companies which prioritise women's issues.

Here are a few that were in the news this week:

1. Maya: The women's health tracker Maya, has raised an undisclosed sum from Google's Vice-President for South East Asia and India, Rajan Anandan. The app helps women keep a track of their menstrual cycles and physiological health. It claims to have processed over a 100 million data points to build its predictive process.

2. FabAlley.com: This online women's fashion brand has raised $2 million in Series A funding from India Quotient, FAO Ventures, Indian Angel Network (IAN) and a group of angel investors. The company was founded in 2012 by Tanvi Malik and Shivani Poddar, and plans to use the new funds to increase their offline presence, focus on marketing, and expand its product range.

3.  Kidsstopress: Parenting website, Kidsstoppress, has raised an undisclosed sum of funding from angel investors, including CEO of IIFL Health, Karan Bhagat. The website connects parents to events, brands, reviews and resources through its online platform.

"Kidsstoppress has raised funding from strategic investors who are aligned to the vision of simplifying parenting and supporting us to create marquee properties. Kidsstoppress aims to increase its reach of over a million parents across digital platforms. The portal is working on a number to new initiatives, including a curated marketplace model, and strengthening the technology backbone to provide a very personalised experience to the parents," founder Mansi Zaveri tells Shethepeople.TV

4. Sheroes.in acquires Gharkamai: The women's job portal, Sheroes, acquired Gharkamai.com for an undisclosed amount. The company was started by Kachina Chawla and Manisha Chawla and provides stay-at-home women the opportunity to find work on a project-to-project basis. It has so far provided a platform for around 10,000 women to connect with 1,500 companies. Sheroes also acquired online sexual and relationship counselling platform, LoveDoctor.in, this month. The company was founded by Avani Parekh, who will now join Sheroes as Director of Community and Empathy.

Sairee Chahal, founder of Sheroes.in told shethepeople.tv, "Sheroes has a huge focus on the work from home segment and returning professionals. We are delighted to welcome Gharkamai to Sheroes,” Sairee Chahal told SheThePeople.TV.

After the acquisition, all Gharkamai users will be able to use Sheroes and all companies will be serviced by the Sheroes platform.

5. Oasis: This firm received Rs 40 crore in funding from private equity firm, India Life Sciences Fund II. The company, which was founded by Durga G Rao and Kiran Gadela, operates a chain of IVF centres in South India. The company will use the money to open more centres and improve its technology, it said in a statement.

Here's hoping women focused and women run startups continue to grow and receive more attention!

Also Read: Funds That are Changing the Game for Women