Women Entrepreneurs run more than 1/3rd of entrepreneurial ventures the world over. In the past two decades, one can see a spurt in Women entrepreneurship in India due to economic progress, better access to education, urbanization and also due to recognition by society. Special schemes and incentives have been created by the Indian Government to bolster the growth of women entrepreneurs.
Let’s take a look at the top women entrepreneurs in India below who have carved a niche for themselves and provided us with benchmarks to be broken along with inspiration and guidance!
1. Zivame – Richa Kar
Zivame is one of its first kind of fashion brands started in 2011 by Richa Kar as a Lingerie Retailer featuring hundreds of styles for Indian Women after realising that Lingerie is an under-served category in women clothing in India. It has also entered into other categories like Activewear, Sleepwear and Shapewear which is witnessing 2X growth in the Lingerie category. It has already become the largest Lingerie Retail EBO network in India with about more than 30 retail stores.
2. Limeroad – Suchi Mukherjee
Limeroad is a Gurugram Based startup founded by Suchi Mukherjee in 2012 when she was on maternity leave. It has Tiger Global Management, Lightspeed India Partners, Matrix Partners India and Lightspeed Venture Partners as its investors and has raised $50 million in funding to date. It is India’s first boutique fashion marketplace for Women, Men and Kids.
It allows its customers to create their fashion scrapbook, create their style and even earn from it.
3. Nykaa – Falguni Nayar
Nykaa.com has become India’s biggest online destination for beauty & wellness products. With over 2500+ brands, 5 lakh+ products and delivery all across India, It has become a one-stop destination for women looking for affordable cosmetic brands along with apparel. It was founded by Falguni Nayar in 2012.
In 2015, it expanded its reach and began selling Fashion products and in 2018 Nykaa Fashion came into existence.
Today, Nykaa has multiple eCommerce platforms across websites along with mobile apps and has 76 offline stores as well. It is a unicorn startup that was valued at ₹85 billion (US$1.2 billion) in 2020.
Nykaa also runs Nykaa Network – A community of millions of beauty and fashion enthusiasts across India along with Nykaa TV – its YouTube channel which engages an audience of over 1 million apart from its bi-monthly magazine called Beauty Book.
4. Cashkaro – Swati Bhargav
A London School of Economics Graduate, Swati Bhargav co-founded CashKaro, India’s largest Cashback and coupon Site in 2013 along with her husband, Rohan Bhargav. It is backed by Ratan Tata and Kalaari Capital, which is India’s leading VC firm. It is a one-stop destination for shopping lovers, enabling its members to compare prices, earn extra cashback and get free coupons across 1000+ e-commerce sites like Flipkart, Amazon.in, Tata CliQ, Myntra, etc.
Also Read: It is one of the top startups founded by Husband- Wife duo in India.
5. Fresh Menu – Rashmi Daga
Rashmi Daga is the founder & CEO of Fresh Menu which is a Bangalore-based online food delivery service platform, started in 2014, that aims to deliver freshly prepared food at your home or office desk. Rashmi is an IIM- A graduate and a DCE graduate. Her Online Delivery platform serves 12,000 orders a day. FreshMenu has multiple satellite kitchens with each kitchen serving within a five kilometres radius. It operates 22 kitchens in Bangalore. It has to date raised $25.8 million in funding.
She was on the list of Fortune’s 40 under 40 and has also been awarded ET Prime Women Entrepreneur Award in 2019.
6. Yourstory – Shradha Sharma
YourStory, founded by Shradha Sharma in 2008 is a leading media platform for entrepreneurs with its ideology to promote the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India. Yourstory not only tells the entrepreneurial journeys of people but also provides business networking opportunities to them. Your Story has helped more than 50,000 entrepreneurs in realizing their dreams. YourStory’s website reaches out to more than 10 million niche readers all across the globe.
It not only connects startups and talent in the most curated manner but also provides the largest online database of startups and investors in the country.
Also Read: In 2017, Your Story raised ₹40 Cr funding from UC-RNT Fund, Kalaari Capital and others
7. Sheroes – Sairee Chahal
SHEROES is a women-only social community platform founded by Sairee Chahal in 2013 and is based in Delhi. It is a safe and trusted startup with high-empathy and constructive space which is powered by communities along with a chat-based helpline, resources, opportunities and conversations offered to women via sheroes.com and the SHEROES app. It helps them find work from home and other resources and mentors to help them start or boost their careers. They offer a range of products like Brand Solutions, Managed Remote Solutions Program and SHE – prevention of sexual harassment at work platform.
The SHEROES network is also home to Babygogo and Naaree platforms. SHEROES also hosts the #SHEROESSummit which is a multi-city annual event and #TheSHIFT Series, a platform depicting the changing gender narrative where community meets across geographies.
8. Mad street Den – Ashwani Ashokan
Mad Street Den was founded by Ashwani Ashokan along with her husband Anand Chandrasekaran in 2013 with Global Brain Corporation, Sequoia Capital, Falcon Edge Capital, KDDI, Array Ventures as investors. With about $30M in funding, the company has over 220+ employees across the US, Japan, and India. This Chennai based startup is a computer vision and artificial intelligence company where they build models of generalizable intelligence and create actionable ways to contextualize AI on the scale, helping millions of people and providing customised solutions.
9. Biozone Research Technologies – Dr Florida Tilton
Biozone is a research and development organisation, founded by Dr Florida Tilton in 2008, recognized by DSIR (Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt. of India), which does research, analytical, academic and publishing services and also creates herbal products. It provides customised research in fields of Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Bioinformatics and more. Currently, Biozone’s revenue is more than $4 Million.
Dr Florida Tilton is a first-generation entrepreneur and she aims to deliver sustainable long term value in the field of biotechnology.
10. Wed Me Good – Mehak Sagar
WedMeGood, co-founded by Mehak Sagar Shahani in 2014 is an Indian Wedding Planning Website and app where one can find the best wedding vendors, with prices and reviews at the click of a button. WedmeGood is a one-stop solution for all the queries related to Wedding and their affairs. Whether one is looking for wedding planners, top photographers or just some ideas and inspiration for their wedding, WedMeGood helps you solve your wedding planning woes through its unique features.
It is a Gurgaon-based startup with Orchid Asia Group Management, Indian Angel Network, Alok Mittal and Hemant Kanakia as their investors.
Disclaimer: Note that the provided list of top 10 Women Entrepreneurs is not based on any ranking but the discretion of the writer.
It is really a good article to read and know about excellent women power in India. We Indians are so proud of them all and pray 🙏 that other women will be keen to start their own businesses to bring up our Indian economy (Made by Indian Women).