If selected for the program, you will spend structured 1:1 time over four months with a Sequoia investment advisor . In addition, you will get access mentorship from Sequoia India and Southeast Asia founders and Sequoia specialists across different disciplines. 

This will be a four month-long fellowship program that includes regular check-ins with your investment advisor and mentorship from a curated set of industry experts and leading founders, as well as access to Sequoia specialists across hiring, marketing, product, legal and finance.

The applications for the cohort 02 are now closed.

In addition to the fellowship, we’ll have a series of  sessions, both online and offline, open to all female founders and leaders who are interested to learn more about company-building. Follow us on social media for regular updates:

Twitter: @SequoiaIndiaSEA

Instagram: @sequoia_india and @sequoiasurge_id

LinkedIn: Sequoia India, Sequoia Southeast Asia and Sequoia Spark LinkedIn group

As part of the fellowship grant, Sequoia Capital India/Southeast Asia will not take a stake/ownership in the company. We do expect the selected founders to commit to spending time and attending the sessions to make the best of the program.

While each cohort is for four months, the Sequoia Spark community is for life. You can continue to stay connected to your Spark network, attend events and benefit from peer/community learnings after the fellowship ends.

Applications for cohort 02 are now closed. We will update the dates for cohort 03 shortly.

We are looking for incredible, missionary female founders who are leading recently-launched startups and are on a mission to create large-scale impact by solving hard problems across SaaS, FinTech, sustainability, climate tech, consumer tech, Web3, HealthTech, etc. for India and/or Southeast Asia markets.

The Sequoia Spark program is specifically designed for early stage startups and is focused on empowering female founders with access to capital, mentorship knowledge, and networks to supercharge the early steps of their company building journey. We would love to see a business plan and your product/service details and thinking around GTM, even if you are yet to launch.

We are only accepting applications from full-time founders, or those about to start up, at this point.

We accept applications from full-time founders only. However, if you can commit to running your startup full-time by the time the cohort, then you are welcome to apply.

Your application will be reviewed by a group of investment advisors. If shortlisted, we will set up a virtual meeting with you (the founder) and your co-founders. if any. We will select the final list of startups post the meetings. You can expect to hear from us within three weeks of your application, regardless of the status.

Not right away. But if you are selected for the Sequoia Spark fellowship, your company will have to be registered in order to receive the grant. 

You can apply if you are building for India and/or Southeast Asia markets. If selected for Spark 02, you are also required to be based out of India / Southeast Asia when the cohort kicks off in Jan 2023. We will be hosting a series of in-person meetups and sessions for Spark 02 to meet and connect with peers as well as the broader startup community, and being a part of these is critical for every founder in the cohort.

Yes, you definitely can. However, you need to be an equal (or majority) shareholder in the business. Please note that if selected, the program will only be open to you.

A single application is sufficient for the both of you since the form has provision to share details of your co-founder. Please go through the fields carefully and share all the relevant details of your co-founder.

You don’t need to have a co-founder to apply to Sequoia Spark. We hope that you will get to meet like-minded people through the Spark community so that you can learn and grow together.

Sequoia Spark does not charge any program fees. Given this is a grant, we don’t take any ownership/stake in the company either. You can expect to hear from us within three weeks of your application, regardless of the status.