10 women entrepreneurs in India who smashed the glass ceiling

Tech is still largely a man’s world and entrepreneurship even more so. The reasons are many and we discussed them in depth in a recent article on sexism.

But more and more women today are coming out of their homes to play their part in the innovation economy. And women who swim against the tide to become technopreneurs are changing the world by inspiring others to do the same. So their success is worth celebrating twice over.

We have many examples of such enterprising women in India in diverse domains. Here is a list of 10 change-makers in the Indian tech startup scene, including some who have made it big and others who look full of promise. Some of these startup heroes do not like to be called women entrepreneurs. They find shades of sexism in the gender prefix. But others wear it with pride in having carved out a strong base in a man’s world.

(From left to right) Richa Kar, Preeta Sukhtankar, Valerie Wagoner, Suchi Mukherjee, Aditi Gupta, Sabina Chopra, Ashwini Asokan, Parul Gupta, Pranshu Bhandari and Chitra Gurnani

Richa Kar, Zivame

Richa Kar had worked with a retailer and global technology company before starting Zivame. As part of her earlier work, she studied the Indian lingerie market and realized that most women were not comfortable shopping for lingerie in brick and mortar stores. She conceptualized Zivame as a lingerie store where women could understand their lingerie needs, browse through styles, order for the right size, and get the goods delivered to their doorstep without any embarrassment.

Zivame, therefore, takes care to deliver products discreetly. Their products are packed without any branding or product description to make sure that orders can be delivered anywhere without inviting comment or curiosity. The startup, one of the best places for online lingerie shopping in India, is funded by IDG Ventures, Kalaari Capital, and Unilazer Ventures.

Preeta Sukhtankar, The Label Corp

Preeta Sukhtankar started The Label Corp to provide curated, rare-to-find products to a niche audience who want a tasteful home. Her earlier stints in media and brand-building helped her to connect with celebrities and create three brands as part of The Label Corp: The Home Label with Suzanne Khan, The Closet Label with Malaika Arora Khan, and The Trunk Label with Bipasha Basu. She has an all-women team, and interestingly, Kalaari Capital, led by Vani Kola, is her startup’s venture investor on board. Vani Kola herself was an entrepreneur in the US, who had a billion-dollar exit before starting a venture fund in India. In her, Sukhtankar found a perfect mentor.

Aditi Gupta, Menstrupedia

Aditi Gupta was doing her post graduation at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, when she took up a year-long project to study the level of awareness about menstruation among young girls in India. Girls are largely brought up to be ashamed of menstruation, and are even ostracized as impure during that time. Gupta shared her concerns with Tuhin Paul, her boyfriend (now, husband), and together they conceptualized a friendly guide which helps girls and women stay healthy and active during their periods.

They saw the issue not just as a women’s health and hygiene problem but also one of communication design. So they created a prototype where they explained menstruation through comics using characters and stories, and tested it with young girls. The warm reception it drew got them to bootstrap Menstrupedia. Gupta has won multiple awards for her year-old startup.

Valerie Wagoner, ZipDial

Valerie Wagoner founded ZipDial, a consumer engagement tool for brands, along with Sanjay Swamy and Amiya Pathak in 2010. Her startup capitalized on the missed call phenomenon in India, where phone users give each other missed calls to convey anything from ‘I miss you’ to ‘call me back.’

ZipDial has tie-ups with Facebook and Twitter, and works with over 500 brands, including Disney, Gillette, and Nivea. It raised funding from Mumbai Angels, 500 Startups, Jungle Ventures, and Blume Ventures. While India remains its main market, it has ventured into Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and is now gearing up to expand into Indonesia, the Philippines, and South Africa.

See: ZipDial CEO who left glamorous Silicon Valley for India: don’t call me a woman founder

Suchi Mukherjee, LimeRoad

Suchi Mukherjee started LimeRoad in 2012 as a social commerce site targeted at the modern woman. It aggregates a wide range of carefully picked lifestyle product retailers, across categories like apparel, accessories, home products, and non-perishable food.

Mukherjee was picked as one of the top global leaders at the World Women’s Forum. A Cambridge University graduate, she studied finance and economics at the London School of Economics as a British Chevening Scholar. Her startup raised US$20 million in series A and B rounds from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Matrix Partners, and Tiger Global.

Sabina Chopra, Yatra

Pranshu Bhandari, CultureAlley

Chitra Gurnani, Thrillophilia

Ashwini Asokan, Mad Street Den

Parul Gupta, SlideRule

And there are more…