There are around 88 unicorns (one-billion-dollar start-ups) in India with a total valuation of USD 296 billion and out of the total 44 unicorns with a total valuation of USD 94.37 billion were established in 2021. However, there has not been an increase in female founders in these companies but this is slowly changing. Here is a list of female unicorn founders:
Garima Sawhney, Co-Founder of Pristine Care: Sahni, a doctor at Maharashtra University of Health Sciences who has worked with Max Super Specialty Hospital and CK Birla Hospital in Gurugram, started Pristine in 2018. Pristine Care, backed by investors such as Sequoia and Tiger Global, is a technology platform. Utilizes excess capacity in hospitals to create multispecialty clinics and surgery centres.
Ruchi Kalra, co-founder of OffBusiness: Kalra co-founded the B2B commerce and lending platform of business with her husband Ashish Mohapatra and others. The husband-wife duo has become the first pair to run a unicorn separately. She is an alumnus of IIT-Delhi and Indian School of Business. The company plans to bring an IPO this year. Kalra previously worked with management consulting giant McKinsey before co-founding OffBusiness.
Ghazal Alagh, co-founder of Mamearth: Alagh is the co-founder of Honasa Consumer Pvt Ltd, which along with her husband Varun operates under the new age skincare and bodycare brand Mamaearth. Ghazal was recently also a shark/investor in the popular entrepreneurship show Shark Tank India. Ghazal is known to test every new Mamaearth product before shipping it to the public, to check for side effects etc.
Smita Devrah, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Lead School: LEAD is a technology platform that schools can use to enhance learning through smart classrooms, certified teachers and an international curriculum. Devra is a Chartered Accountant by education and has worked with Procter & Gamble for over eight years. She runs the lead with her husband Sumeet Mehta.
Rajoshi Ghosh, co-founder of Hasura: Hasura, co-founded by Ghosh, became the 10th start-up to enter India’s unicorn in 2021-22. The company accelerates web app development while cutting down on the time and expertise required to build GraphQL APIs for data access. He is an alumnus of the National University of Singapore and co-founded 34Cross, a product development company, whose idea sowed the seeds for Hasura.
Ambiga Subramaniam, Co-Founder and CEO of MuSigma: Subramaniam, the first woman to head the Indian Unicorn, sold her stake back to her ex-husband and the company’s founder, Dheeraj Rajaram. The start-up is backed by investors such as Sequoia, General Atlantic and Mastercard.
Upasana Taku, co-founder of Mobikwik: Taku co-founded mobile wallet and buy-now-pay-later platform MobiKwik with her husband Bipin Preet Singh. She is an alumnus of Stanford. The company became a unicorn and got regulatory approval to launch an IPO, but had to shelve its listing plans after filing documents due to Paytm’s spectacular IPO failure. Taku has also worked with PayPal and HSBC in the US before returning to India.
Sarita Katikaneni, co-founder of Zenoty: Katikaneni co-founded Genoty, the software platform for spas and salons, in 2010. The platform was primarily based in the US but later expanded to other countries as well. He has worked in the company as the Marketing Vice President for 9 years.
Falguni Nair, co-founder of Nykaa: Nair, a former senior banker from Kotak and an alumnus of IIM-Ahmedabad, started the beauty e-commerce platform Nykaa in 2012. She has been the face of women entrepreneurship in India over the years. He launched the company’s IPO last year at a valuation of over $10 billion. While the shares have declined, Nayar and his family own 50 percent of Nayaka and run the company profitably.
Gajal Kalra, Co-Founder of Rivigo: An alumnus of IIT Delhi, Harvard and Stanford, Kalra co-founded the trucking logistics platform Rivigo. The company is funded by Elevation Capital and Warburg Pincus, among others. She has previously worked with McKinsey and was a consultant with the World Bank Group before starting Rivigo.
Byju’s Co-Founder Divya Gokulnath: Gokulnath, who oversees content operations at Byju’s, is also the co-founder of India’s most valuable internet company. She was also earlier a student of Ravindran, when he used to take classes before starting the company.
Radhika Ghai, co-founder of ShopClues: Co-founder of online shopping portal ShopClues, Ghai was the Chief Business Officer. She was one of the first e-commerce entrepreneurs in the country. ShopClues was one of India’s earliest unicorns, until things were sorted out personally and professionally. The couple split and publicly accused each other of feuding over shareholding, control and operations.
read all Breaking News , today’s fresh news And IPL 2022 Live Updates Here.