Jamie McCrary
Worldwide, one in three businesses is led by a woman—a rapidly growing number. From 2019 to 2023, the number of women-owned businesses increased at nearly double the rate of those owned by men.
Despite dramatic growth, women-founded startups remain drastically underfunded. According to the World Economic Forum, in 2023, female-led businesses accounted for 2 percent or less of venture capital funding.
This inequity is especially glaring in India, the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem. The country boasts over 100 unicorn startups, 26 of which are women-led and receive just a fraction of available funding.
She Capital, an India-based venture capital fund founded by serial entrepreneur Anisha Singh, is working hard to change this. The Fund backs early-stage startups founded by women seeking to scale their businesses and, in the process, close the gender gap in entrepreneurship.
Since 2018, She Capital’s VC fund has invested in 14 diverse teams across India, including the science-tech company BrainSightAI and Yuva Kabaddi, a sports tech startup, and one of the largest exits in the fashion space with its portfolio company Clovia being acquired by Reliance. It has also grown and nurtured its community into a network of 8000+ female founders, the largest in India.
“We need to create more role models at the top, especially for female founders,” says Singh. “It gives them a blueprint to follow. I believe this is what we need to do to close the gender gap and advance equality in business.”
Singh, who successfully founded and led two companies before launching She Capital, was drawn to venture capitalism by its potential for impact.
From 2009 to 2018, Singh founded and ran Mydala, a local services marketing platform that offers consumers deals at businesses in 200+ cities, and the digital content company Kinis. She relished her life as a founder and wanted to equip women with the means to pursue this path, too.
“I did feel limited in terms of the impact I was having,” says Singh.
For me, it was always about giving back to an ecosystem where I belonged.”
Anisha Singh
Founder, She Capital
She Capital is centered around this vision. The Fund’s investments and initiatives aim to create a community for female entrepreneurs, driven by the belief that they are stronger together.
This sentiment is even reflected in the Fund’s tagline: “Together. We Can.”
“I always tell people to find your own kind,” says Singh. “If you're in an environment with other accomplished and driven people, you’ll be more inspired to pursue your vision. It is very hard for entrepreneurs to do this alone.”
In 2022, She Capital launched one of the startup community’s signature events for founders in India: “Together.”
Held annually, “Together” convenes business owners to collaborate and brainstorm ways to prepare the next generation of female founders. The two-day gathering features presentations by leading entrepreneurs and investors, a networking lunch, cocktail collaboration, and more to encourage wisdom-sharing and connection.
Like She Capital and its partners, Singh continues to scale the event. This year, Together will be a more global gathering of female founders, with celebrated founders joining from UAE, Singapore, and even Silicon Valley.
“The fun question is: How can we do this better and grow our ecosystem?” says Singh. “And our answer is, we'll do it together. So, we’re working to add many new community offerings for female founders. We will find strength in each other.”
Singh is also passionate about mentoring rising female founders and offers wisdom to those pursuing entrepreneurship.
She advises fellow women entrepreneurs to find their “center:” that personal nugget that keeps them grounded and going on their most challenging days.
It might be running, yoga, rock climbing, or wine, which will likely change daily. But finding a way to disconnect from the pressures of founder life is essential for one’s success (and sanity), whatever stage of business they’re in.
“It's not that the pressure decreases as you grow—it’s that the scale of the pressure changes,” says Singh. “Your staples are your strong ecosystem and family, but you’ve also got to find what keeps you centered personally.”
She also advises entrepreneurs to fortify their grit. Tenacity in the face of adversity is the number one prerequisite for a successful life as an entrepreneur, and she looks for this quality when deciding where to invest.
Grit and self-confidence aren’t qualities people are born with, though. Singh notes that, according to recent research on personal success, they are skills that can be learned and developed.
“We're investing in the jockey as much as the horse,” says Singh.
It’s that mindset of: ‘Damn, I can’t keep going. But, at this moment, I am going to try one more time.’”
Anisha Singh
Founder, She Capital
Most of all, Singh urges founders to stay true to themselves. She says people will come to you with ideas, and you’ll encounter enticing trends to follow. But for your venture to keep evolving, sticking to your mission is critical.
“We have to be too dumb to die,” she says. “Put your blinders on, and don’t listen to people’s judgments. That’s the only way to keep going in business and life.”
Currently, Singh is heavily focused on growth. She Capital is raising its Fund 2, which is much larger and will invest in startups in India as well as globally.
Next year, she anticipates backing female entrepreneurs from the Middle East and South Asia, focusing more on global startups.
She’s also excited to continue investing in more female-led deep tech businesses, an area she’s noticed significant growth in recent years. Singh notes that women-owned businesses used to be primarily consumer-focused, and this shift indicates that women are claiming their ground.
Most of all, Singh is driven to continue supporting female entrepreneurs in fulfilling their visions and advancing equity in the field and beyond.
“I get to learn so much and meet driven people,” she says. “Some days, I walk out of a meeting, and I'm beyond charged and optimistic about the world with the amazing startups founders are building and what's going to happen.”