On the eve of International Women’s Day, Colossa Ventures, a SEBI registered independent venture capital management company, founded by Ashu Suyash (Former MD & CEO of CRISIL, Former India Country Head – Fidelity International, exCitibanker) and Vandana Rajadhyaksha (Ex-Partner, ICICI Ventures and Aditya Birla Private Equity) has announced the first close of its maiden fund – Colossa WomenFirst Fund at INR 100 Crore. With India on track to become a USD 10 trillion economy by 2035, Colossa WomenFirst Fund aims to unlock the vast potential of the Indian female economy.
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The fund’s unique strategy that leverages gender-diversity to generate alpha, has attracted well-known institutions such as SIDBI and renowned family offices like Dr. Ranjan Pai’s Family Office, and the Shriram Ownership Trust, among others to invest in the first close.
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Colossa Ventures WomenFirst fund, a sector agnostic venture growth fund, seeks to revolutionize the startup-landscape by focusing exclusively on high quality “WomenFirst” businesses – either Women-founded or co-founded, or where Women are main beneficiaries. The fund with a target corpus of INR 500 Cr will primarily focus on investing at the Pre-Series A stage and beyond. Based on extensive research Colossa Ventures sees immense opportunity in Healthcare and HealthTech, FinTech, Climate & Clean-Tech, Deep Tech and the Consumer sectors.
“Our first close marks an important milestone for Colossa WomenFirst Fund,” commented Ashu Suyash, Founder & CEO of Colossa. “Colossa’s mission is to unlock the great potential of India’s trillion-dollar women economy that is not just under penetrated, but underinvested in, and underestimated. It seeks to do so by identifying, backing, and fast-tracking highpotential Women entrepreneurs building disruptive businesses through powering them with Colossa’s proprietary 3C framework: Capital, Capability, and Confidence.”
Shri S.P. Singh, Chief General Manager Incharge Venture Finance & Investment Vertical SIDBI said, “With Women’s contribution to GDP expected to register strong growth in the coming years our organization is looking to back exceptional women founders who can contribute to building a sustainable and inclusive future. We believe that the Colossa team is well placed to do so and we are proud to invest in the Colossa WomenFirst fund.”
About Colossa Ventures
Colossa Ventures is an investments ecosystem founded with the purpose of creating economic agency and growth opportunities for Women in India. It’s founders are Ashu Suyash (Former MD & CEO of CRISIL, Former India Country Head – Fidelity International, ex-Citibanker) and Vandana Rajadhyaksha (ex-Partner, ICICI Ventures and Aditya Birla Private Equity).
