Meet the women behind some of India’s very successful startups
Falguni Nayar, Nykaa
Investment banker-turned-entrepreneur Falguni Nayar launched the e-commerce platform Nykaa in 2012. Today, the startup is the go-to platform for cosmetics, wellness products, fashion and more. Nayar was earlier the managing director of Kotak Investment Banking. Nykaa, which collaborates with Bollywood stars often for its marketing, is worth $743 million and is on its way to become a unicorn soon.
Upasana Taku, Mobikwik
Upasana Taku launched Mobikwik in 2009 and today, the company is one of the leading digital payments platforms. Taku had worked with HSBC, Paypal before founding Mobikwik. In 2020, the company is aiming for ₹1.4 lakh crore annual payment volume for its payment gateway business. As a payment gateway, Mobikwik has clients like Uber, IRCTC, Dream11, Bajaj Finance, Zomato, Blue Dart, Dominos, Maruti Suzuki, among many others. Mobikwik is also planning to head for an IPO in the next three years.
Sairee Chahal, Sheroes
Sairee Chahal founded Sheroes in 2014. Sheroes is a women-only social network, which started off as a platform to help women find jobs. Sheroes has over 15 million women in its network. Chahal is also a board member of Paytm Payments Bank.
Suchi Mukherjee, Limeroad
Limeroad – a fashion social commerce platform for women was founded by Mukherjee in 2012. A graduate from University of Cambridge, Mukherjee was also voted as one of 15 'Rising Talent - global leaders under 40' at the World Women's Forum.
Richa Kar, Zivame
Kar founded the innerwear shopping platform Zivame. The popular shopping website has a valuation of $200 million and its revenue for FY19 stood at ₹140 crore. Kar worked with SAP and Spencer’s before founding Zivame.
Sabina Chopra, Yatra.com
Yatra.com, one of the most popular travel booking and aggregator platform was founded by Sabina Chopra along with Dhruv Shringi and Manish Amin. A Delhi university graduate, Chopra worked with Hewitt Associates before founding the travel agency. In 2019, Yatra was acquired by Ebix for ₹2323.6 crore.
Neeru Sharma, Infibeam
Sharma co-founded Infibeam, which develops integrated and synergistic e-commerce solutions including payments with CCAvenues. In the third quarter of the current financial year, Infibeam saw a 38% year-on-year growth. Sharma earlier worked with Amazon and Nokia.
Swati Bhargava, Cashkaro
Swati Bhargava and her husband Rohan founded Cashkaro in 2013. CashKaro helps users shop on e-commerce sites like Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra and others to receive cashbacks. It earns commission from the e-commerce players. Its revenues grew by 76% from ₹22.4 crore in FY18 to ₹38.6 crore in the financial year ending March 2019.
Lizzie Chapman, Zestmoney
Lizzie Chapman is the co-founder and CEO of Indian fintech company ZestMoney. A popular face in the Indian startup ecosystem, Chapman founded the consumer lending startup along with Priya Sharma and Ashish Anantharaman in 2015. ZestMoney is backed by leading investors such as Ribbit Capital, Xiaomi, Naspers Fintech, and Omidyar Networks.
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