Gender was Never a Concern For These Two Women Investors Rema Subramanian and Ritu Verma gate-crashed the territory, which was predominately dominated by the big, industry boys

By Sneha Banerjee

You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.

Entrepreneur India

Whatever you do, be different! That was the advice my mother gave me and I can't think of a better advice for an entrepreneur. "If you are different, you'll standout" -Anita Roddick

Entrepreneur brings lives of 23 women achievers between its cover to celebrate womanhood.

India has seen its share of women entrepreneurs and powerful executives. However, what we haven't seen is a lot of fund managers. Rema Subramanian and Ritu Verma gate-crashed the territory, which was predominately dominated by the big, industry boys.

Both Rema and Ritu come with decades of experience in the consumer, IT/ITES and education domains. Today they run Ankur Capital and are looking for innovative business models that can address core challenges in agriculture, healthcare, skill development and education. The fund deploys between INR 50 lakhs and 4 crores.

While addressing the concern about less number of women being in this field, Reema said that there is an inherent bias continues to thrive in this space and it's not easy to that segment which usually belongs to the big boys.

Gender was never our concern

Ritu and I never considered the fact that there weren't many women in the VC domain while starting out with Ankur, she said. Our gender never crossed our minds. The only question that bothered us was the fact that we were first time fund managers, which makes fund raising a tad bit difficult, she adds. Rema said that from the fund raising aspect, especially in the case of individual LPs, they are far more conservative when it comes to women VCs. But the same thing does not imply for institutional funding.

Speaking about investing in a sector like agritech Ritu said that agriculture has the traditional risks of having issues of government intervention, weather and other things. "Of course there are risks; we don't look at farmers as something to invest in. We are looking at things in either pre-harvest or post-harvest and technology led which is working there," she adds.

The fund's portfolio includes companies such as Karma Healthcare, Cropin, BigHaat and Suma Agro.

(To know more about these women entrepreneurs, subscribe here)

Sneha Banerjee

Entrepreneur Staff

Former Staff, Entrepreneur India

She used to write for Entrepreneur India from Bangalore and other cities in South India. 

Leadership

5 Mindset Tips for a Successful 2025

What makes the difference between a successful business and one that doesn't last? The mindset of the business owner plays a crucial role.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Leadership

How Flexible Talent Is Transforming Consulting

Entrepreneurs can tune their disruption muscle by studying how consulting is facing two massive headwinds: Top Consultants are going independent, and Talent Platforms are able to outcompete their incumbents.

News and Trends

Boba Bhai Secures INR 90 Lakh Investment on Shark Tank India Season 4

With the fresh funds, the Bengaluru-based brand aims to scale its operations and introduce new flavours.

Franchise

5 Expert Tips to Make the Most of the IFA Convention

After several years of attending, filming, and connecting with franchisors at IFA, I've gathered insights that can turn your first experience from overwhelming to unforgettable.