Four of the 44 Indian startups that became unicorns last year were run by women. Although the number appears modest at first glance, it is significantly greater than the two companies that made the list in 2020.
To make matters even better, in the first two months of 2022, four female-led businesses have already joined the unicorn club. Mamaearth by Ghazal Alagh, Hasura by Rajoshi Ghosh, LEAD School by Smita Seorah, and Pristyn Care by Dr Garima Sawhney are among the names on the list. In startup jargon, a unicorn is a private company valued at or exceeding a billion dollars.
The following is a list of billion-dollar valued women-led startups.
MuSigma led by Ambiga Subramanian
Ambiga Subramanian is the first Indian woman to be the CEO of a unicorn company. According to the Hurun India wealthy list of 2017, she – the former CEO of data analytics firm Mu Sigma — also became the youngest of India’s eight richest self-made women.
Byju’s : Divya Gokulnath
Byju’s is the most valuable Indian startup and the most valuable edtech startup in the world, is been founded in 2011 by Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath. The firm is worth $18.5 billion and has more than 115 million students registered on its platform.
Mobikwik: Upasana taku
Upasana Taku, a Stanford graduate, is the cofounder and chief operating officer (COO) of Mobikwik, which is about to go public. In 2010, she and her husband, Bipin Preet Singh, created the digital payments startup Mobikwik.
Mamaearth : Ghazal Alagh
Ghazal Alagh became a household name after she featured on Shark Tank India, a spinoff of the American reality show that has been running since 2009. She, along with her husband Varun Alagh, founded direct-to-customer (D2C) Mamaearth back in 2016. The company currently sells over 80 beauty and personal care products across India.
Acko insurance: Ruchi Deepak
ACKO Insurance was founded by Ruchi Deepak and Varun Dua in 2017. After raising $255 million in a round headed by General Atlantic and Multiples Private Equity last year, the company became a unicorn. Acko is also backed by Amazon India and Binny Bansal, the co-founder of Flipkart.
The Good Glamm Group – Priyanka Gill
Priyanka Gill, the founder of popular content platform PopXo, became a part of the MyGlamm Group in 2020. Gill, along with the founder MyGlamm’s founder Darshan Sanghvi, acquired BabyChakra in August 2021 and launched a new house of brands called The Good Glamm Group a month later.
Hasura- Rajoshi Ghosh
Rajoshi Ghosh, a Stanford University alumnus, co-founded Hasura, a software-as-a-service startup, with Tanmai Gopal in 2017. It’s an open source platform that gives developers a variety of tools to help them construct web applications faster. She had previously founded Dokbuk, a doctor appointment booking system, and Find A Kadai, a crowdsourcing local cuisine discovery app. She was also a cofounder of 34 Cross and The Brass Plate.
LEAD School – Smita Deorah
Smita Deorah and her husband Sumeet Mehta founded the edtech startup LEAD School a decade ago. Lead School, based in Mumbai, is the second startup to join the unicorn club this year, and is now competing with Byju’s, Unacademy, Eruditus, UpGrad, and Vedantu.
HAPPY WOMENS DAY…!!!