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India witnessed its 100th entry this 2022. We bring to you, 10 most successful women-led unicorns that the nation as witnessed.
Unicorns are no longer the mythological, mystical animal that marks its appearances in fairytales. The term now has a financial meaning of its own.
A unicorn company is essentially a private-owned, start-up that has crossed the $1 Billion mark without being listed on the Stock Market. The term unicorn was coined by Aileen Lee, the renowned venture capitalist from U.S, owing to the rarity of the emergence of such a company.
But the statistical rarity, that had prompted Lee to come up with the term, might not be the case now. According to a report, there are 1203 unicorn companies worldwide, as of October 2022 with a total cumulative valuation of $3,895 billion.
India which recorded its first entry in the unicorn club in 2011, witnessed its 100th entry this 2022. A report by RazorPay reveals that in the first quarter of 2022, India has registered 18 unicorns. We bring to you, 10 most successful women-led unicorns that the nation as witnessed.
Byju’s valuation: $18+ Billion Year Founded: 2011
Byju’s is no more an unknown name for any of us. An online tutoring company, it specializes in educational technology (EdTech). The power couple Byju Raveendran, and Divya Gokulnath established it in 2011. With a current valuation of $18 billion, the tutoring app has developed into one of India’s most valuable unicorns over the years.
Divya Gokulnath’s contribution as a former educator has been instrumental for the growth of the company from the very beginning. Byju’s reached a new height when it earned sponsorship rights for the FIFA World Cup 2022.
*Nykaa’s Valuation: $12.86+ Billion Year Founded: 2012
Nykaa is regarded as the first Indian startup led by a woman. Due to its extensive range of beauty categories, the Falguni Nayar-led company quickly gained popularity amongst Indian customers. The Nykaa IPO saw an 81.78 percent oversubscription rate, allowing the company to increase its valuation to more than $12 billion.
Guess, the unskippable YouTube advertisements worked after all!
MyGlamm’s Valuation: $1.2+ Billion Year Founded: 2014
Priyanka Gill is a wonder woman! She is the co-founder of The Good Glamm group, and the founder-cum-CEO of POPxo. Alongside being a successful entrepreneur, she also happens to be a journalist, and an angel investor. POPxo was launched in 2014 to provide personal care, beauty, and fashion-related content to millennial women. It soon rose to popularity owing to their quirky, and fun, posts, and became the largest digital community for women.
Recently, they came up with an innovative strategy for marketing, where you win a free lipstick for every time you answer their survey. Not to mention, it was an instant hit! Who doesn’t love a free lipstick, after all?
The Good Glamm Group Valuation: $1.2+ Billion Year Founded: 2021
Naiyya Saggi is regarded as one of the most successful Indian young female entrepreneur. She is also known as the founder of BabyChakra, co-founder and president of MyGlamm, and co-founder of The Good Glamm Group with Priyanka Gill.
The Good Glamm Group consists of leading digital media platforms like POPxo, ScoopWhoop, Baby Chakra, and MissMalini. Their new initiative, Good Creator Co. is an influencer platform that helps brands create campaigns with measurable ROI and enables its content creators to make money.
Mamaearth’s Valuation: $1.2+ Billion Year Founded: 2016
Back to nature- is just the phrase to describe Mamaearth. Ghazal’s brand, of which Shilpa Shetty has been the ambassador, is well-known amongst Indian households. It offers a comprehensive selection of beauty and skincare products that use natural, or traditional recipes of DIY skincare routines.
In 2016, Ghazal, and her husband Varun Alagh, established Mamaearth with the objective to eliminate chemical toxicity in the beauty industry. But surprisingly, their ads promote their products as an alternative to the hassles of home-made mixes. Smart marketing much?
LEAD Valuation: $1.1+ Billion Year Founded: 2012
LEAD’s co-founder, and co-CEO is Smita Deorah. Alongside Sumeet Mehta, she established it in 2012. LEAD is a school education-technology company. Based on technology that aims to change the education system in India, and provide children with high-quality education, it is one of the biggest names in the world of Ed-tech. It became the 6th ed-tech company to enter the unicorn club, and the 1st school ed-tech to do so.
With Covid-19 striking the world, one can realize the immense potential such companies hold in enabling smart, and easy, learning to the ones who have access to it.
MobiKwik Valuation: $1+ Billion Year Founded: 2009
We have all used Paytm or Gpay. But before them came MobiKwik. It is one of the most well-known payment service providers in India that, holds one of the largest digital wallets, and mobile phone-based payment systems. It was founded by Upasana Taku, and Bipin Preet Singh in 2009.
In 2012, they introduced their payment gateway subsidiary called Zaakpay, that allows online merchants to collect payments from their customers in any format. Moreover, in MobiKwik Zip launched in May 2019, that works on the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) scheme, they aim to give the general Indian mass their first experience of a credit.
But don’t keep someone waiting for their money, people!
Hasura’s Valuation: $1+ Billion Year Founded: 2017
Hasura, which initially focused on delivery services of home-cooked food, changed its services to the software world. Rajoshi Ghosh, and Tanmai Gopal established the company in 2017. 5 years later, it entered the unicorn club, not long after bringing $100 million up in series C financing.
Ofbusiness’ Valuation: $1+ Billion Year Founded: 2016
One of India’s best startups for supplying raw materials, the company is known for its low prices on a wide range of goods. In July 2021, Ofbusiness became a unicorn, and is currently valued at $1.5 billion. Oxyzo, Ofbusiness’s financial services division, is also a unicorn that was valued as a unicorn in March 2022.
Pristyn Care’s valuation: $14 Billion
Year founded: 2018
Dr. Garima Sawhney, alongwith Harsimbar Sing, and Vaibhav Kapoor founded Pristyn Care in the year 2018. It entered the $1 billion club when it raised $100 million in funds in 2021. What began as a health-tech start-up soon entered the primary healthcare scene with the acquisition of health-care start-up Lybrate, which is backed by Ratan Tata.
Even though, only 15% of Indian unicorns have women as their founders, these companies are a solid testimony of the fact that women are equally efficient to run a business. If you yearn for financial independence, you can be an entrepreneur too! All it needs is passion, dedication, and well, some amount of funding.
Image source:
Researched by Ridhima Jain
*Please note that Nykaa registered itself on Stock Market in 2022.
The author is a Gen-Z kid who resorts to writing to vent out about the problematic ways of the world. Having majored in Theatre, English, and Psychology, I take a guilty pleasure in complex read more...
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What I loved was how there is so much in the movie of the SRK we have known, and also a totally new star. The gestures, the smile, the wit and the charisma are all too familiar, but you also witness a rawness, an edginess.
When a movie that got the entire nation in a twist – for the right and wrong reasons – hits the theatres, there is bound to be noise. From ‘I am going to watch it – first day first show’ to ‘Boycott the movie and make it a flop’, social media has been a furore of posts.
Let me get one thing straight here – I did not watch Pathaan to make a statement or to simply rebel as people would put it. I went to watch it for the sheer pleasure of witnessing my favourite superstar in all his glory being what he is best at being – his magnificent self. Because when it comes to screen presence, he burns it, melts it and then resurrects it as well like no other. Because when it comes to style and passion, he owns it like a boss. Because SRK is, in a way, my last connecting point to the girl that I once was. Though I have evolved into so many more things over the years, I don’t think I am ready to let go of that girl fully yet.
There is no elephant in the room really here because it’s a fact that Bollywood has a lot of cleaning up to do. Calling out on all the problematic aspects of the industry is important and in doing that, maintaining objectivity is also equally imperative. I went for Pathaan for entertainment and got more than I had hoped for. It is a clever, slick, witty, brilliantly packaged action movie that delivers what it promises to. Logic definitely goes flying out of the window at times and some scenes will make you go ‘kuch bhi’ , but the screenplay clearly reminds you that you knew all along what you were in for. The action sequences are lavish and someone like me who is not exactly a fan of this genre was also mind blown.
Recent footage of her coming out of an airport had comments preaching karma and its cruel ways, that Samantha "deserved her illness" because she filed for divorce.
Samantha Ruth Prabhu fell from being the public’s sweetheart to a villain overnight because she filed for divorce. The actress was struck with myositis post divorce, much to the joy of certain groups (read sexist) in our society.
A troll responded to Samantha’s tweet, “Women Rising!!” by adding to it “just to fall”. She replied, “Getting back up makes it all the more sweeter, my friend.”
Here’s another insensitive tweet by BuzZ Basket showing fake concern for her autoimmune disease. “Feeling sad for Samantha, she lost all her charm and glow. When everyone thought she came out of divorce strongly and her professional life was seeing heights, myositis hit her badly, making her weak again.” Samantha responded, “I pray you never have to go through months of treatment and medication like I did. And here’s some love from me to add to your glow.”
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