Women have faced several challenges in breaking the glass ceiling, and one of the verticals they have struggled to establish their presence in the business domain. Putting in relentless efforts to get the due credit they deserve finally, women are upscaling their skills and taking what is theirs fiercely and unapologetically.
In the last year, 47% of women started their ventures compared to 44% of men. But, startups can only get by so long, relying on friends, family or savings. They eventually need to find investors willing to put money into young companies focusing on partnering with them and build companies that command the future. Although the figures have been slightly better, it is imperative for the developing country of ours to create and offer more opportunities for women. Thus, the renowned name in the market, Anthill Ventures, has stepped up responsibly and launched Athena to encourage women entrepreneurs and upscale their businesses with the investment offered.
Athena uplifting women-led businesses
Athena is a new scaling program launched to support women-led startups. The program will be investing and partnering with skilled women entrepreneurs, and hone their bossy streak to strengthen the startup ecosystem in the country. Putting robust efforts in laying a strong foundation and upscaling women-centric and led startups, Athena will provide womenpreneurs with all the resources that are prerequisites for their growth and the resources required to match their ambition of #ScaleWithSpeed. It will necessitate that this segment is never overlooked, establishing gender as moat.
Being a women-centric program doesn’t mean that Athena onboards everyone willing to be a part of their endeavour. They ensure characteristics like founder quality, timing and market sizing before making the confederation official. Other than that, they have two qualifying criterias:
1) The majority of founders on the founding team should be women.
2) More than 30% of founder equity should be owned by a female founder.
Aiming high with Athena
The program’s main emphasis is on scaleable consumer companies across emerging sectors such as plant based proteins, science based skincare, feminine hygiene, and more of the domain. The Athena cohort will start with a 4-day boot camp in the first week of August 2021. In this period, the enrolled entrepreneurs will be participating in knowledgeable seminars with key industry leaders like AnjuSrivastava (Wingreens), Rishabh Chopra (TheAyurvedaExperience), MohitSatyanand (Angel Investor), Ghazal Alagh (Mamaearth), and many more to identify their focus areas over the next six months. Anthill Ventures envisages that over the period of next six months, they will be intensively engaged to #SpeedScale their young companies, culminating in a demo day for additional funding.
KabirKochhar, Partner at Anthill Ventures, is known as a dynamic entrepreneur, marketer and early-stage investor. He has been guiding Anthill Ventures to new horizons of success and thus, expresses his views on womentrepeurship, says, “When it comes to getting backing for a startup it is about trust, and that seems to be lacking when it comes to women entrepreneurs. With our approach of investing in their ideas, we plan on fortifying their presence in this competitive market.”
He further adds, “62% of female owners stated that their business is their main source of income and we can ensure that given equal opportunities, women businesses can stand at par with mangled enterprises. Women should be starting businesses in every single category, for every single customer, and we’d be here to support them in any situation they require.”
Unveiling the inspiration of Athena
Anthill Athena is inspired by the success of Anthill’s current portfolio companies (~25%) led by women entrepreneurs. After speaking with many women founders, the Anthill team has identified core challenging areas specific to women. This program will feature customised
support in these areas. The Athena Scaling Progra offers a multitude of benefits that include:
1. Upfront Capital Investment
Even before the program begins, Athena will invest $75k to $125k in the startup. If required, they will help syndicate the rest up to $1M to $5M in follow-on capital.
2. Hands-on Speed Scaling
Each cohort company will be assigned to a Speed Scaler who would dedicate time to work with the startup and enable them to realise their vision and achieve #scalewithspeed.
3. Personalised Coaching Addressing Skill Gaps
They would be educated and supported by industry experts in regards to Supply Chain, Fundraising, Brand Marketing, Leadership, People Management etc.
4. Market Access and Distribution Support
Partnerships, POCs, industry deep pes and access to relevant retailers, domestic and international distributors, celebrities, and influencers. Direct access to R&D and product formulation facilities will be availed.
Athena, as a women-centric scaling program, will prove to be beneficial for women entrepreneurs who are looking for a secure and trusted platform to assist them in making their businesses grow.