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Neythri Futures Fund operates as a venture fund, strategically investing in female founders and diverse founding teams that are developing innovative, tech-enabled solutions for the global market. The fund primarily backs companies poised for venture-scale growth, focusing on robust teams and substantial market opportunities within the US. This approach combines financial investment with a broader mission to empower underrepresented groups within the tech ecosystem.
The fund was founded by Mythili Sankaran, its Managing Partner, building upon the community established by Neythri.org, a nonprofit dedicated to South Asian professional women. The core insight behind its inception was to create a structured avenue for South Asian women to actively participate in venture capital as investors, expanding their financial influence and investment acumen, thereby addressing a significant gap in representation.
Neythri Futures Fund supports a portfolio of early-stage companies led by diverse founders, including South Asian women and other underrepresented entrepreneurs. Its long-term vision centers on fostering a new generation of leaders and innovators by providing capital and leveraging a powerful network of experienced professionals. The fund aims to cultivate a more inclusive landscape within venture capital and technology entrepreneurship.
Key people at Neythri Futures Fund.
Key people at Neythri Futures Fund.
Neythri Futures Fund has 3 tracked investments across 3 companies. The latest tracked deal is $8.0M Seed in Virtualness in November 2022.
Neythri Futures Fund is a pioneering U.S.-based venture capital firm founded in 2021 that uniquely positions South Asian women as key stakeholders and investors, addressing their severe underrepresentation in VC—only 1 in 400 U.S. VC partners is a South Asian woman.[1][3][4] Its mission centers on empowering these women to deploy capital while investing in female founders (including South Asian women) and diverse founding teams building scalable, tech-enabled solutions for global markets, with a focus on sectors like Big Data & Analytics, CloudTech, E-Commerce, and SaaS across seed to Series D stages.[1][3] The fund's philosophy emphasizes operator-led expertise, strong execution records, large TAMs (>$1B), and U.S.-based companies without heavy regulatory hurdles, fostering inclusivity in the startup ecosystem by backing underrepresented entrepreneurs and amplifying South Asian women's influence in venture.[2][3]
With 9 investments to date and a team of operators, entrepreneurs, and investors from the Neythri community (1,800+ South Asian professional women, linked to a larger nonprofit network of 3,300+ members), the fund drives impact through community leverage, targeting 15-20 investments in venture-scale tech companies.[1][3][6]
Neythri Futures Fund emerged in 2021 as the historic first venture fund centered on South Asian women investors, born from the Neythri.org nonprofit—a 501(c)(3) fostering a global community of South Asian professional women across industries and generations.[3][6] Distinct yet leveraging Neythri's 1,800+ member base (now grown to 3,300+ globally, with 48% at director level or above and 300+ in C-suites), the fund taps this network of leaders as Limited Partners (LPs) who are operators, founders, and investors bringing diverse expertise.[3][6]
The idea crystallized amid stark VC diversity gaps, positioning South Asian women—long leaders in science, math, politics, and justice—as active capital deployers rather than sidelined minorities.[4] Key evolution includes a data-driven, operator-first approach from managers with 50+ deals in tech and healthcare across North America/Europe, notable exits, and a focus shift to diverse founders building tech solutions, marking pivotal traction through community mobilization.[2][3]
Neythri Futures Fund rides the crest of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) trends in VC, where gender parity conversations peak amid data showing persistent gaps for South Asian women and underrepresented founders.[4] Timing is ideal as tech investing demands diverse perspectives for innovation—diverse teams outperform, yet remain underfunded—forcing market shifts toward inclusive funds amid LP pressure for equitable returns.[3]
Market forces like exploding South Asian professional networks (e.g., Neythri's growth) and demand for tech-enabled global solutions in SaaS/Cloud favor its thesis, influencing the ecosystem by normalizing women-led investing, boosting female/diverse founder funding, and proving operator communities can rival traditional VCs.[1][6] HQ'd in Los Gatos, CA, it counters homogeneity, enhancing startup resilience through broader talent pools.[2]
Neythri Futures Fund is primed to scale toward its 15-20 investment target, potentially launching follow-on funds as its 9 deals mature amid favorable tech tailwinds like AI-driven SaaS and cloud expansion.[1][3] Trends like rising DEI mandates, immigrant founder success (e.g., 50%+ of U.S. unicorns), and South Asian diaspora growth will propel it, evolving its influence from niche pioneer to ecosystem shaper—perhaps inspiring parallel funds for other underrepresented groups.[2][4]
This positions South Asian women not just as investors, but as architects of a more equitable VC landscape, bridging the 1-in-400 gap with compounding community power.[3]
