A firm, inDrive, has launched Aurora Ventures, an early-stage investment programme designed to boost business financing for underserved female talent in emerging markets.
The launch follows the successful conclusion of the 2026 Aurora Tech Award in Santiago, Chile.
Aurora Ventures aims to capitalise on the “mispricing” faced by women founders by investing between $180,000 and $250,000 at the pre-seed and seed stages.
The programme also leverages the Award’s network to identify companies before their valuations fully reflect their performance, creating a repeatable model for generating alpha in emerging markets.
According to the organisation, the Award noticed a persistent market inefficiency, fuelled by high-traction, high-growth businesses led by women in MENA, Africa, and Latin America, which are consistently undervalued and overlooked by traditional venture capital.
A new Aurora research study involving over 900 founders across 127 countries found that women founders face systemic
“competence scepticism” and higher traction standards.
Speaking on the initiative, Head of Aurora Ventures, Isabella Ghassemi-Smith, described the launch of Aurora Ventures as a disciplined investment program built on the conviction that women founders are one of the most overlooked opportunities in venture capital today.
“Over the past five years, we’ve seen a repeating pattern: exceptional women building rigorous businesses but reaching institutional capital later and on worse terms than their performance justifies,” Ghassemi-Smith said.
Also speaking, Chief Growth Businesses Officer, inDrive, Andries Smit, explained that while inDrive was built against all odds, competing against better-funded incumbents, the same thing plays out with women founders in emerging markets today.
He said the 2026 pilot programme focuses on building an initial portfolio and generating the track record necessary to transition into a formal GP/LP fund structure.
He said by providing capital, network access, and operational guidance, Aurora Ventures seeks to accelerate portfolio companies toward subsequent funding rounds on more equitable terms.
