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Colossa WomenFirst Fund raises Rs 100 Cr in first close

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Colossa Ventures, a SEBI-registered independent venture capital management company, has announced the first close of its maiden fund – Colossa WomenFirst Fund at Rs 100 crore. The fund with a target corpus of Rs 500 crore will primarily focus on investing in the pre-Series A stage and beyond. Based on research Colossa aims to create a niche in healthcare & healthtech, fintech, climate & cleantech, deeptech and the consumer sectors. The fund’s strategy is to leverage gender-diversity to generate alpha, and has attracted institutions such as SIDBI and family offices like Dr. Ranjan Pai’s Family Office, and the Shriram Ownership Trust, among others to invest in the first close. Co-founded in 2022 by Ashu Suyansh and Vandana Rajadhyaksha, Colossa WomenFirst Fund is a sector-agnostic venture growth fund, that seeks to revolutionize the startup landscape by focusing exclusively on women-founded or co-founded, or where women are the main beneficiaries. A bunch of women-focused funds are currently active in India. For context, Kalaari Capital runs CXXO initiative for female founders. Gender-focused investment platform Achieving Women Equity (AWE) Funds also launched its maiden India fund amounting to Rs 350 crore. Search giant Google runs a program called Google for Startups Women Founders Fund and provides $100,000 in equity-free cash to female-founded startups. Saha Fund, She Capital, and StrongHer Ventures also focus on women founder-led startups.