In our latest “Voices in the Field” interview, we speak with Ashu Suyash and Vandana Rajadhyaksha, Co-Founders of Colossa Ventures. They share their vision for opening up growth opportunities for women entrepreneurs in India, while tackling climate change and advancing inclusion. They also discuss what the climate-gender nexus means for venture capital investors in emerging markets.
How has applying an integrated climate and gender lens helped you to achieve a greater impact on climate?
At Colossa, integrating a gender lens into climate investing helps us look beyond a solution’s environmental benefits to understand who it serves, whose needs it addresses, and how its impact can scale. Women are often disproportionately affected by climate change, yet their needs may be overlooked in the design of climate solutions. By assessing gender considerations alongside climate relevance, we can identify opportunities that address environmental challenges while strengthening women’s economic participation and resilience. This lens also informs our investment diligence, helping us evaluate gender-related factors across the value chain - from leadership and workforce participation to suppliers and end users - and anticipate barriers to adoption and scale. Ultimately, it allows us to take a broader view of climate impact, encompassing not only mitigation but also adaptation, resilience, and inclusive economic growth.
How is climate and gender integration showing up in your fund?
Gender and climate are interconnected priorities within our investment strategy. Our portfolio is predominantly women-centric, and climate oriented - reflecting our belief that women’s empowerment and climate action can be mutually reinforcing drivers of economic value. This integration extends beyond our investment thesis into how we evaluate and support businesses. During due diligence, we assess women’s representation in leadership and governance, gender diversity across teams and value chains, and risks relating to workplace safety, harassment, pay equity and access to opportunity. Post-investment, we work with portfolio companies to strengthen their environmental and social practices, including the adoption of policies that embed gender considerations. This allows us to go beyond backing women-centric businesses to encouraging more inclusive practices across the companies we support. By combining capital allocation with active engagement, we aim to advance women’s economic participation while supporting climate solutions that can build resilience and deliver lasting impact.
In your own words, what opportunities does investing at the climate-gender nexus provide to investors?
For venture capital investors in emerging markets, the climate-gender confluence represents an exceptionally high-alpha investment frontier - one that offers the potential to uncover under recognized opportunities, strengthen risk assessment and generate attractive financial returns alongside measurable impact. Women remain an underleveraged source of entrepreneurial talent, innovation and economic value. Investing in women-first businesses can open up opportunities in climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience that conventional investment approaches may overlook. There is also a compelling business case. Gender diversity can strengthen governance, broaden perspectives in decision-making, and improve how businesses respond to environmental and social risks. By considering women’s roles as entrepreneurs, workers, consumers and community leaders, investors can better assess how climate solutions will be adopted, implemented, and scaled in real-world markets. Ultimately, integrating gender into climate investing is not simply about expanding the scope of impact; it is about making better investment decisions. For investors, this creates an opportunity to access overlooked markets, identify differentiated business models and back companies better positioned to build resilient businesses and deliver long-term value.
How did you get to where you are — what inspired the interest/commitment to climate and gender strategies?
Colossa Ventures was born from a shared vision between its co-founders, Ashu Suyash and Vandana Rajadhyaksha, to create growth opportunities for women entrepreneurs in India while addressing climate change and advancing inclusion. Despite their different professional journeys, they independently recognized the opportunity to power exceptional female founders with Capital, Capability and Confidence to create enduring businesses and generate strong alpha for investors. Ashu brings extensive leadership and entrepreneurial experience as CEO of business across Citibank, Fidelity, L&T and S&P Global, while Vandana brings deep investment expertise, including partner-level experience at ICICI Ventures and Aditya Birla. Together, they are building a gender-smart investment platform grounded in the belief that empowering women economically and addressing climate challenges can go hand in hand with creating sustainable, long-term value.
Find out more about Heading for Change’s investment thesis and portfolio funds