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Starting a business requires a significant amount of effort. Every female entrepreneur, on the other hand, must start someplace. There is no magic recipe for starting a profitable business. Business, on the other hand, is prejudice-free. It makes no difference when or where you start your journey. These Indian female entrepreneurs are living examples of it.
If you are exceptional, you will succeed. Though it may take years to reach a degree of satisfaction.
We routinely look to our favorite Indian female entrepreneurs for motivation.
Let’s take a glance at some of the most famous female entrepreneurs of India.
Aditi Gupta: Co-founder at Menstrupedia
Aditi Gupta, the author, and co-creator of the comic Menstrupedia is an epitome of an Indian female entrepreneur. She thought it was necessary to dispel the myths and misunderstandings around menstruation. She and her spouse co-founded the comic in 2012. She has been included in Forbes India’s 30 Under 30 list in 2014 for her efforts to break down barriers.
Aditi is a successful entrepreneur from India who wants to promote consciousness about menstruation hygiene. She has done Ted Talks and her contributions have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, CNBC, and the BBC.
About Menstrupedia
Menstrupedia is a helpful guide about menstruation that is being taught in over 30 Indian schools. They also provide a number of free materials to assist you overcome the taboo.
Founded In: 2012
Speculators: The Morpheus
Location: Ahmedabad
Their official website: Menstrupedia
Quick fact:
In Turkish culture, under the 15th century law, a woman had the freedom to divorce her husband if he didn’t provide her with enough coffee.
Ashwini Asokan: Founder at Mad Street Den
Ashwini and her husband, Anand Chandrasekaran, co-founded the cloud-based platform Mad Street Den. She formerly led the mobile innovation team at Intel’s Silicon Valley Interaction & Experience Research Lab. She has almost a decade of experience working in Silicon Valley. Her curiosity for artificial intelligence grew as a result of this.
Her background as a mother, UI designer, business development representative, ethnographer, program manager, product manager, and artist aided her in forging her own path. Ashwini, a classically trained dancer, was included to Fortune’s 40 Under 40 list. She’s also been featured in Vogue, TechCrunch, Nikkei, and other magazines.
About Mad Street Den (MAD)
MAD is a corporation that specializes in artificial intelligence and computer vision. Their goal is to create generalizable intelligence models that can be used by billions of individuals. Today, they have a staff of over 175 people. MAD’s image recognition tool, Vue.ai, which was introduced in 2016, is revolutionizing the fashion industry.
Founded In: 2013
Funding: $21.2M
Speculators: Global Brain Corporation, Sequoia Capital, Falcon Edge Capital, KDDI and, Array Ventures
Address: Chennai
Their official website: Mad Street Den
Did You Know?
The US is one of only eight countries in the world that does not provide any form of paid maternity leave.
Divya Gokulnath: Co-founder Of Byju’s
Byju’s is an educational platform that Divya co-founded to assist students study more effectively. She graduated from RV College with a bachelor’s degree in engineering and was studying for the GRE in order to continue her studies overseas. This is when she enrolled as a student in Byju Raveendran’s classes.
Soon after, Divya married Byju and became a teacher at his school. Byjus picked her to launch the platform with when the time came. BYJU is now the world’s most valuable educational technology firm.
In 2019, Divya was named one of Linkedin’s top voices.
About Byju’s
BYJU is the most valued ed-tech startup in the world. It provides preparation for competitive examinations like JEE, CAT, NEET, and IAS for students in grades 1 through 12.
In 2015, it released its main product, BYJU’S – The Learning App, for grades 4 through 12.
Over 42 million pupils have signed up for the app, with 3 million paying yearly memberships.
Every day, a student spends an average of 71 minutes using the app. The app’s goal is to make learning enjoyable through visual teaching.
For kids in grades 1-3, BYJU’S offers an early learning application.
Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Sofina, Verlinvest, IFC, Aarin Capital, TimesInternet, Lightspeed Ventures, Tiger Global, General Atlantic, Tencent, Sequoia Capital, Owl Ventures, Naspers, CPPIB, and Qatar Investment Authority are among the company’s investors. In addition, BYJU’S is an official sponsor of the Indian Cricket Team.
Founded In: 2011
Funding: $1.5 B
Investors: Bond, Tiger Global Management, General Atlantic, Owl Ventures, Qatar Investment Authority
Location: Delhi, Bangalore
Their official website: BYJU’S Online learning Programs For K3, K10, K12, NEET, JEE, UPSC & Bank Exams
Divya Gokulnath’s net worth is 1800 crore
Did You Know ?
In Russia, there are 9 million more women than men.
Falguni Nayar: The Founder of Nykaa
Quote “Think Big, start small”
Falguni is the creator of Nykaa.com and is well-known in India for her entrepreneurial endeavours. She took the plunge to create Nykaa.com after 25 years of expertise and a wildly successful career in financial services. Falguni Nayar, an IIM Ahmedabad graduate, has developed a beauty and skin-care retail empire today. Her greatest success in her early years was being able to establish Nykaa as a brand. It is now a go-to portal for all things related to beauty.
Business Today named her the “Most Powerful Businesswoman,” and the Economic Times honoured her with the “Woman Ahead” award. Nykaa has recently joined the unicorn club thanks to new financing from previous investor Steadview Capital of Rs 100 crore ($13 million).
She is undoubtedly one of India’s most well-known female entrepreneurs that you should be aware of.
Net worth-Rs 1,300 crores, according to CNBCTV18.
What Is Nykaa’s Purpose?
It’s estimated to be worth $1.2 billion. Nykaa is a leading e-commerce website for women’s beauty and wellbeing. They are recognised for its high-quality items and well-known brand names. They brag about their retail collaborations with household names like Unilever, P&G, L’Oreal, Beiersdorf, and Johnson & Johnson.
Since 2015, Nykaa has held the ‘Nykaa Femina Beauty Awards’ in collaboration with women’s leisure magazine Femina (India). With Nykaa males, fashion, and more, they’ve recently expanded into new market categories.
The retail platform is now valued at $1.2 billion as a result of this new investment.
Founded In: 2018
Funding: $ 145M
Location: Mumbai
Their official website: Nykaa: Buy Cosmetics Products & Beauty Products Online in India at Best Price
Did You Know?
Sally Ride became the first woman in space — and the first gay astronaut — roughly 20 years later.
Khushboo Jain: Co-Founder and COO of ImpactGuru.com
Quote“Our mission is to help India’s people find crowdfunding solutions for patients struggling to fund critical illnesses.”
Khushboo Jain co-founded Impact Guru and entered the business world with the goal of assisting India’s crowdfunding startup scene. She is the company’s COO and oversees the marketing, communication, and design departments. Khushboo has an extensive educational background.
She received an MBA in Marketing from Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research after studying Business Management at Sydenham College in Mumbai. She has even studied fashion marketing at Parsons and the London College of Fashion.
Khushboo has recently been named to a number of lists and events. She was named to Fortune India’s 40 Under 40 list and was one of the Top 15 winning women entrepreneurs at the NITI Aayog and United Nations’ 2019 Women Transforming India Awards.
About ImpactGuru
Impact Guru is a crowd-funding platform that promotes social good through technology. Individuals, NGOs, and social serial entrepreneurs may all benefit from it since it offers a full crowdfunding solution. Maneka Gandhi, the Union Cabinet Minister for Women and Children, founded it in 2015. Impact Guru has already collected more than 150 crores (US$21 million) for NGOs and social entrepreneurs throughout the globe.
RB Investments, a Singapore-based venture capital firm, and Fundnel, a Southeast Asia-based private investment platform, have invested approximately 3.3 crores (US$460,000) in the company.
They’ve also collaborated on a project with UN Women, a United Nations agency. In 2016, they collaborated on a project with the Singapore Committee for UN Women, Bain & Company, and MasterCard.
Founded In: 2014
Funding: $4.5M
Investors: Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, Shorooq Partners, Venture Catalysts, RB Investments Pte. Ltd.
Location: Mumbai
Their official website: Crowdfunding Websites | Free Fundraising Platform and Crowdfunding Sites in India
Did You Know?
Women in ancient Egypt had the same right to inherit the throne as males.
Suchi Mukherjee: Founder & CEO of Limeroad
“Be hungry to build something bold and take the risks they inevitably come with. There will be downs, but if you follow your heart there will be tremendous highs too! But you need to have the drive to stick it out.”
Suchi Mukherjee is an Indian woman entrepreneur who founded Limeroad, an online clothes and lifestyle products marketplace. The brand is well-known for its fashionable men’s and women’s clothing. She’d always wanted to start a company that relied on basic but effective items.
She graduated from London’s Economic School with a master’s degree in finance. Suchi Mukherjee, who has over 18 years of experience in the top management of renowned consumer technology companies, decided to pursue entrepreneurship while on maternity leave. She has received several honours since then. One of them is Business Today’s trendiest start-up of the year, Infocom’s lady of the year-Digital Business, and NDTV’s Unicorn Start-up Award.
She is also the only Indian to get the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholarship in 1994, which she used to study Economics at Cambridge University.
About Limeroad
Limeroad is a men’s and women’s fashion eCommerce portal. It focuses on user-generated content and interaction to ensure that its audience is fully immersed in the product. It is aimed towards ladies and aims to make internet shopping more enjoyable.
Today, however, it has expanded to include both men’s and children’s fashion. It enables you to produce a scrapbook in your own unique manner.
Limeroad has made efforts to assist small to medium company owners during the current epidemic through its ‘Financial clinic for sellers.’ Its goal is to provide answers to a variety of vendors on a variety of concerns.
Limeroad has secured $30 million in its series C fundraising round, and things are just getting better for the company.
Founded In: 2012
Funding: $50M
Investors: Tiger Global Management, Lightspeed India Partners, Matrix Partners India, Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Location: Gurgaon
Their official website: Online Shopping Site – Shop Men & Women Fashion Online in India
Did You Know?
Despite the fact that women in Ancient Greece were not considered citizens and their rights and liberties were severely restricted, the divorce process was quite straightforward. A woman just required a male representative to arrange the divorce arrangement in her name if she wished to divorce her spouse.
Upasana Taku: Founder at Mobikwik
“MobiKwik was very simple and need-based. We launched MobiKwik as a recharge platform and, soon, it became the mobile wallet of every Indian. I take pride in saying that MobiKwik was the first mobile wallet of India.”
Upasana Taku and her husband, Bipin Preet Singh, co-founded Mobikwik. Mobikwik is a virtual wallet that connects you to a vast network of businesses and services. It allows users to digitally recharge and pay at registered locations using their app. It also has a concept called SuperCash that pays clients for utilising their wallet.
Upasana earned her master’s degree in management science from Stanford University and established a strong fintech background while working as a senior product manager at PayPal. Even though she was already working on very large budgets, she expressed dissatisfaction in her interview. This inspired her to return to India and contribute to the local environment. She just assisted the company’s creator, Bipin Preet Singh, for the first six months until she gained confidence in the concept. She later became a full-time co-founder of Mobikwik.
About Mobikwik
Mobikwik was started in April 2009 as a finance firm. It’s a digital wallet and payment system that runs on your phone. It aids in the bridging of the digital divide between consumers and businesses. Their software also allows you to pay bills, DTH, data cards, and much more. Mobikwik was able to generate 19-184.6 crore INR in FY19 as a result of this.
MobiKwik has won a number of honours, including the mBillionth Award South Asia in the area of Mobile Business, for its socially beneficial contributions to the digital infrastructure of South Asia.
Founded In: 2009
Funding: $ 131M
Investors: NDTV Limited, Trifecta Capital Advisors, Tianying Fu, Gaurav Manglik, Sequoia Capital India
Location: Gurugram
Their official website: Recharge & Bill Payment, BHIM UPI, Money Transfer & Financial Services
Did You Know?
Arranged marriages are quite widespread in India. But in ancient times, a woman was equal to a man. She had the right to not only choose her husband but to get married whenever she wanted. Indian women also received a good education and were allowed to undergo initiation and study the Vedas.
Chitra Gurnani Daga: Co-Founder at Thrillophilia
Chitra and her husband, Abhishek Daga, co-founded Thrillophilia. She attended the Indian School of Business and graduated with honors. She opted to get into the company despite having no prior expertise since she was passionate about it. Her family didn’t have any business experience, and neither did her husband’s. They chose to pursue their aspirations in an uncommon way as a couple. Her desire to travel and help others realize their aspirations drove her. As a result, she enlisted the help of specialists who share her enthusiasm for adventure.
About Thrillophilia
Thrillophilia is an Indian adventure travel firm that creates unique and unconventional travel tales by curating local experiences. It has grown to become one of the largest online platforms for travel experiences, with 3.5 million monthly users. Thrillophilia has established a brand identity for itself thanks to an active website, blog, and social media presence. They’re one of the most well-known travel agencies in India.
Founded In: 2009
Funding: $260 K
Investors: NuVentures, Kishore Ganji, Hyderabad Angels, Navlok Ventures
Location: Rajasthan
Their official website: Thrillophilia: Tours, Activities, Adventures & Things to do
Did You Know?
Beer-making may have a reputation as a boy’s club, but for generations, it was dominated by “alewives”, or female beer brewers.
Isha Choudhry: Co-Founder ZoloStays
“In our sector, the more options we explore in a city, the more amenities we can provide like – bike on rents, cars on rent, gym memberships, etc.”
Isha Choudhry is a co-founder of Zolo and the Director of Human Resources. She received her bachelor’s degree from St. Xavier’s College. In Bengaluru, ZoloStay was started in 2015. The startup’s major goal was to assist students in finding affordable housing with nutritious food.
About ZoloStays
Zolo Stay assists students in locating lodging that includes meal. In India, Zoho Stays has carved out a niche for itself in the co-living industry. It employs roughly 600 people in five cities. Zolo Stays just secured $56 million in a Series C round from investors such as Investcorp, Nexus Venture Partners, and others. The organisation has already raised a total of $90 million in funding. This round of money will be used to develop the firm’s technology, lock in additional inventory, and improve its AI platforms, according to the business.
Founded In: 2015
Funding: $98 M
Investors: Trifecta Capital Advisors, Mirae Asset Global Investments, Nexus Venture Partners, IDFC Private Equity
Location: Bangalore
Their official website: Zolo: Managed Hostels, PGs & Flats across major cities in India
Did You Know?
Sojourner Truth (1797-1883), born a slave and given the name Isabella Baumfree by her captors, bravely opposed gender inequity and racial injustice. Sojourner, while being born into slavery, was released in 1827; in 1843, she selected her own name, regaining her identity.
Malini Agarwal: Founder and Creative Director of Miss Malini
Miss Malini Agarwal is the creative director and creator of her own brand, Miss Malini. She is one of the few Indian women entrepreneurs who began her career on the sofa and went on to become a presenter, a digital influencer, a best-selling author, and finally an entrepreneur. As her celebrity grew, she pursued other opportunities.
She is considered one of India’s most powerful ladies. She’s also been named to GQ’s 50 Most Influential Young Indians and Fortune India’s 40 Under 40 lists.
Her company has grown in revenue and has evolved into an entertainment destination that includes lifestyle pieces, celebrity news, tips and techniques, and so much more!
About Miss Malini Entertainment
MissMalini has become a favourite source for Bollywood, Fashion, and Life – style news. It currently reaches over 40 million visitors every month and has a variety of online domains that appeal to different genres.
Each month, 3-4 million potential customers from the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and South Africa access the website.
Women control the Miss Malini Entertainment platform, accounting for approximately two-thirds of the viewing. The platform has received a Rs 10.4 crore investment from Orios Venture Partners and New Enterprise Associates.
Founded In: 2011
Funding: $104 M
Speculators: New Enterprise Associates(NEA), Orios Venture Partners, and Rajan Anandan
Location: Gurugram, Mumbai
Their official website: MissMalini | Bollywood! Fashion! Beauty! Lifestyle!
Did You Know?
Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928), a famous English suffragette you’ve definitely heard of, utilized some fairly unusual techniques to garner awareness for the cause of the time, equal voting rights for women. Chaining oneself to rails, going on hunger strikes, and committing acts of violence were among her strategies. Regrettably, she died just three weeks before a bill granting British women the right to vote.
So these were our top 10 inspiring women entrepreneurs of India. They’ve had to face their own set of challenges and hurdles and make a name for themselves in the company. Their journey and hardwork is definitely an inspiration for all the young girls and ladies out there who dream of establishing an empire of their own one day. Never let anyone tell how small or big your dreams are, there’s no limit to aspirations. If you believe then you can. More power to all the ladies out there!
Read more examples of women breaking all the barriers to stand at the top in this special Interview with Shalini Vadhera- The Global and Gorgeous.
