Women leading the home is not a new one, but women leading a business? Yes, it has been on the move for years. But, Women leading a company, a group of people and a community? It’s always a question mark.
Despite being born in a culture-oriented and patriarchal society, there are a lot of women out there in India who have founded their startups. And the startup stories are always an inspiration
Let us look into this article about these exciting Indian startups founded by women entrepreneurs.
Top 10 Exciting Indian Startups Founded by Women Entrepreneurs
We have listed the top 10 startups one by one which were founded by women entrepreneurs in India. Dive in to know their exciting stories and how they came up with the idea for their business. So, scroll down to know the famous female entrepreneurs in India.
1. Aditi Gupta – Menstrupedia
Aditi Gupta is the author and co-founder of the comic Menstrupedia. She is tired of all the myths and concepts of menstruation, and the thought of breaking them all and finding a solution by passing on the correct and general information about menstruation.
Her book has made a tremendous change, and many parents and educational institutions welcomed it. This made Mensrtupedia reach over 6,000 schools and it has changed more than a lakh of girls.
The Birth of Menstrupedia
Aditi was studying in Ahmedabad, and when she visited her hometown she was taken aback by how her village girls lacked information about their bodies and menstrual hygiene.
Hence, in 2012, with the help of her husband Tuhin Paul, she created Menstrupedia which provided information to girls. It was later developed into many resources and has been doing great since then. It has won numerous awards and has been recognized widely due to its impact on women’s health and well-being.
2. Divya Gokulnath – BYJU’s
Divya is the co-founder of BYJU which helps students to learn better. It is an educational program where they teach you the concepts in a simple and easy way to understand.
Divya did her studies at RV college and was preparing for her studies. She is one of the students of Byju Raveendran. Later she became a teacher and married Byju. The couple chose to launch the educational platform and Byju kept her wife in the main role.
The birth of BYJUS
Divya’s husband Byju Raveendran a teacher who was helping his friends with CAT exams found that many are struggling with the traditional method of teaching. Hence he came up with an idea to teach the concepts in his way by making it more interactive and engaging.
Divya as a partner encouraged him to start a company as the videos were a hit. Thus came the offline company and by 2011 they together launched BYJU’S and since then it has been the largest tech platform in the world.
3. Farah Nathani Menzies – The Mumum Co.
Farah Nathani Menzies founded the Mumum Co. in 2017 with her partner Shreya Lamba. The main focus of this Mumum is to give the correct nutrition for a healthier life for babies and young children.
The Mumum focuses on providing baby food that is healthy, nutritious and also convenient. Farah made this as she found there are many preservatives and additives in the baby’s food that are present in the market.
The Birth of The Mumum Co.
Farah then did a lot of experiments using her own techniques and methods. She used fresh ingredients and got the supplies that are available locally. She took a lot of consultations with pediatricians and nutritionists to ensure the quality of the food she was making.
Later in 2017 she thought of turning her passion into a business and launched the Mumum Co. Since then they have been providing organic and nutrient-rich baby foods.
4. Isha Choudhry – ZoloStays
Isha came up with the idea of ZoloStays with Nikhil Sikiri in 2015. As a person who is traveling a lot, it is really a big task to find a place that is accommodation and affordable.
Isha had much trouble finding a good quality, affordable place in Banglore when she moved there for work. And she found that the traditional rental had a lot of issues like brokerage fees, and poor accommodation and also there was something missing totally.
The Birth of ZoloStays
Isha thought that finding a good and budget place to stay is a lot of work to do. So, she teamed up with Nikhil and Akhil who have experience in technology and hospitality. This trio built ZoloStays together.
ZoloStays is a co-living idea where an individual can stay in a fully-furnished house with all the necessary amenities like Wi-Fi, housekeeping and also maintenance. Since 2015 the company has grown tremendously and has been welcomed by many workers and students in various cities in India.
5. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw – Biocon Ltd.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw founder of Biocon launched it in 1978 with a vision to develop biotechnology so that it benefits the healthcare challenges that are faced by the masses in the world. She is a well-learned and educated person and she found that she had no job despite her high qualifications. Hence, she came up with the idea of Biocon and introduced it herself.
She thought that biotechnology could change the world by producing quality products for health and wellness. With her skills in fermentation technology, she developed products that are affordable and accessible to people.
The Birth of Biocon
At first, Bicon was producing industrial enzymes, but later they put their foot in biopharmaceuticals. Kiran invested a lot of time and researched about this and then soon Biocon started showing its true colours. They started to export the enzymes to the US and Europe which led to the success of the business.
Since then, Biocon has been focusing on producing life-saving medicines for the treatment of cancers, diabetes, and other diseases. Biocon is now one of the leading companies in the world and Kiran’s determination to succeed in her field made a huge difference in the field of biotechnology and healthcare.
6. Falguni Nayar – Nykaa
Falguni Nayar founder of Nykaa is one of India’s largest best beauty and cosmetic brands. She came up with Nykaa with a motive to make people see their beauty of themselves.
Nykaa was founded in the year 2012 and they set out with around 2000 brands and 2lakhs products. The idea of Nykaa came up from her own personal experience when she was struggling to find good quality and authentic beauty products in India.
The Birth of Nykka
Falguni worked as a venture investor and merchant with Kotak Mahindra. Though she had no experience in the field of beauty she found the need for a bridge to fill in the gap in the beauty market. So she came up with the idea where can provide a hassle-free shopping experience to customers by providing the best quality beauty and wellness products.
Over the years Nykaa has grown rapidly and has included personal care, fragrances and fashion. They also have successful offline stores in many major cities in India.
7. Upasana Taku – MobiKwik
In 2009 Upasana co-founded MobiKwik with Bipin Preet Singh. She came up with this idea from her personal experience when saw the difficulty in online payments.
Upsana was working for a mobile payment company in the US and when she returned back to India she saw a huge gap in phone-based payment systems and digital wallets. She realized that there is a need for a secure phone-based payment system and convenient mobile digital wallet that would make payments faster and transfer anywhere.
The Birth of MobiKwik
Upsana along with Bipin together built MobiKwik. At first, it was a platform for mobile recharge and payments. But later they extended the service to online shopping, travel bookings and financial services.
MobiKwik has grown with over 120 million users and the company also included digital credit, insurance and also management services.
8. Ghazal Alagh – MamaEarth
Ghazal Alagh is the co-founder of MamaEarth. It is the best Indian personal care brand with lots of products that are natural and toxin-free. MamaEarth specializes in producing products for babies, kids and adults.
Ghazal came up with the idea of MamaEarth when she became a mother. As a new mom, it’s quite natural to feel over-conscious about taking care of and protecting the baby. Mothers feel to protect their babies despite anything that they can do or buy. So she realized that there were many brands in the market but they aren’t safe enough. So she started to create her own toxin-free products for babies and mothers.
The Birth of MamaEarth
Ghazal with her husband Varun Alagh created MamaEarth in 2016 with the idea to provide safe and natural products to babies, mommies and the whole family. As a parent, they sought out a solution that they can safely use for their kids and thus as a result came in Mamaearth.
Since then the brand has been well-known and widely used by the people. And their products have been certified as safe, natural and free from harmful chemicals.
9. Vani Kola – Kalaari Capital
Vani Kola is the founder and managing director of Kalaari Capital. It was founded in the year 2006. Vani came up with the idea of Kalaari Capital when she was helping many entrepreneurs to build successful businesses.
Vani had many years of experience working with Silico Valley. When she returned to India she thought it was a great idea to implement the idea here. She sought out many talented entrepreneurs who had ideas but lacked financial support.
The Birth of Kalaari Capital
Vani founded Kalaari Capital with the aim to fund those startups and provide mentorship for the same. And as the name “Kallari” means rope ladder, the company helps entrepreneurs to climb up high in their business.
Since then Kalaari Capital has become the leading venture capital firm in India. It has invested in over 70 startups in various sectors and has helped them to gain more success and profits.
10. Richa Kar – Zivame
Richa Kar founded Zivame which is an online lingerie store. It is the largest and most successful business in India. Richa came up with the idea of Zivame when she was working in Silicon Valley and realized that there is a gap in the Indian market that needed to fill in the gap to provide both comfortable and stylish lingerie.
When Rich returned to India she started working on her idea, she did a lot of research and found that women found it uncomfortable to buy personal clothes in shops and preferred to buy at a private place or in their homes. And also found that many aren’t aware of their sizes or how to take care of their undergarments.
The Birth of Zivame
Realizing the need, Richa created an online platform in 2011 that sold lingerie and also supports education and support for women. Since then it has been very successful because of its high quality and comfort.
Zivame then extended its products to sleepwear, activewear and other intimates. It has a huge customer base in India and it has several offline stores as well other than the online platform.
Wrapping Up
That’s one pack of inspiring stories of the top 10 famous female entrepreneurs in India. The article is a compact collection of women entrepreneurs who are great at doing their business. All these women began their startups at an early stage and now many of them have reached heights and success and also received many awards like winning women entrepreneur of the year. It’s important to note that not only these 10 women but there are many women entrepreneurs who are shining well and financially independent with millions of net worth.
Hope you enjoyed reading and find this information helpful! If you find this article interesting like it and share it with your friends who might find this article helpful. And don’t forget to subscribe and follow Ecom News for getting more details on ecommerce.
FAQ
Who is the founder of YourStory Media?
Shradha Sharma is the founder of YourStory Media. She was working as an Assistant Vice President at CNBC TV18. And she came up with the idea to share untold startup stories in India.
How do these Indian startups founded by Women entrepreneurs impact the Indian economy?
The startups have created jobs, innovation and many contributions to the growth of the Indian economy. These startups also have inspired many women entrepreneurs to start their businesses and pursue their careers.
