India’s top 30 startup founders

Over 3,500 startups were founded in 2015 in India, as per a study by Tracxn. About US$7 billion was poured into the new ventures by investment firms as India’s startup sector remains the hottest bet on the planet.

Thousands of internet entrepreneurs are being minted in India every year. However, only a few have stood out with their startups. Many of those are on the way to achieving unicorn status. Using figures from the Tech In Asia database, we’ve created a list of 30 Indian founders in the internet space who have raised millions for their ventures.

30. Navneet Singh, PepperTap

Hailing from a small town called Bijnaur in rural Uttar Pradesh, PepperTap CEO Navneet Singh has donned many hats – first as a captain of a ship in the merchant navy, then captaining two successful startups in India. A movie buff, and a gadget-freak, Navneet likes spend time with his kid and read tech blogs.

Navneet says that the biggest hurdle on his entrepreneurship journey was a home loan he had to repay. After repaying the debts, Navneet, the son of a police officer, started up despite family opposition as none of his immediate family even owned a shop. He established an ecommerce-focused reverse logistics company, NuvoEx, which now covers 18 Indian cities.
In 2014, Navneet started PepperTap, which went on to raise multiple rounds and is amongst the top three online grocery retailers in India.

PepperTap Data

Funding amount: US$46 million
Key Investors: Sequoia Capital, SAIF Partners, and Innoven Capital.
Latest funding stage: Series B
Industry: Groceries, ecommerce

29. Richa Kar, Zivame

After her engineering in 2002, Bangalore-based Richa Kar worked with software firms such as i-Flex and Intergraph. She also worked with Indian retail chain Spencers before moving to SAP as a consultant. It was on a consulting assignment with a global lingerie retailer that Richa discovered the need for a specialist online lingerie retailer in India.

In June 2011, she founded Zivame. It’s now the biggest online retailer of lingerie in India, a country where women feel uncomfortable buying lingerie in shops which are mostly staffed by men. The space is still not dominated by many niche players, even as big firms such as Flipkart and Amazon shy away from advertising their offerings in this section of their stores.

Richa also runs a blog that advises Indian women on choosing the right sizes for their body shapes when purchasing lingerie.

Zivame Data

Funding amount: US$46 million
Key Investors: Kalaari Capital, IDG Ventures, and Unilazer Ventures.
Latest funding stage: Series C
Industry: Ecommerce

28. Sumit Jain, CommonFloor

27. Amit Jain CarDekho

26. Supam Maheshwari, FirstCry

25. Ashish Goel, UrbanLadder

24. Yashish Dahiya, Policybazaar

23. Kavin Bharti Mittal, Hike

22. Girish Mathrubootham, FreshDesk

21. Abhinay Choudhari, BigBasket

20. Vivek Gaur, YepMe

19. VSS Mani, JustDial

18. Suchi Mukherjee, LimeRoad

Suchi Mukherjee runs Gurgaon-based LimeRoad, India’s boutique fashion marketplace for women.

17. Rahul Yadav, Housing

16. Sanjay Sethi, ShopClues, Gurgaon

15. Kunal Shah, FreeCharge

14. Shashank ND, Practo

13. Sahil Barua, Delhivery

12. Ambareesh Murty, PepperFry

11. Ritesh Aggarwal, OyoRooms

10. Phanindra Sama, Redbus

9. TA Krishnan, Ecom Express

8. Albinder Dhindsa, Grofers

7. Deepinder Goyal, Zomato

6. Naveen Tewari, InMobi

5. Pranay Chulet, Quikr

4. Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm

3. Bhavish Aggarwal, Ola

2. Kunal Bahl, Snapdeal

1. Sachin Bansal, Flipkart