Women who built giants: 10 women entrepreneurs shaping India’s business sector

India’s startup ecosystem has expanded rapidly over the past decade. But women founders remain a small share of that growth.

India today has more than 7,000 active startups led by women, accounting for about 7.5% of all startups in the country, according to Tracxn data. These companies have collectively raised over $26.4 billion in funding, with 2021 marking the peak year when women-led startups attracted about $6.3 billion in investment.

Despite this progress, women continue to face a steep funding gap. For every Rs 100 invested in startups in India, only about Rs 4 goes to companies led by women CEOs, highlighting how uneven the entrepreneurial landscape still is.

Yet a growing group of women founders and business leaders have built companies that have reshaped industries from biotechnology and fintech to consumer brands and software. Their stories reflect not only persistence but also the changing face of India’s business ecosystem.

Here are 10 women entrepreneurs who have built influential businesses across sectors:

1. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (Biocon)

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw founded Biocon in 1978, starting the company in the garage of her rented house in Bengaluru with an initial capital of about Rs 10,000 and facing widespread scepticism in a male-dominated scientific industry. 

Mazumdar-Shaw studied brewing at Ballarat College in Australia and initially struggled to find jobs in the brewing industry due to gender bias before starting Biocon.

Today, Biocon has grown into a global biotechnology company with operations worldwide and thousands of employees, helping establish India as a major player in the biotech sector. Biocon reported revenue of over Rs 15,000 crore in FY2024, reflecting its position as one of India’s leading biopharmaceutical firms.

2. Meghna Agarwal (IndiQube)

Meghna Agarwal co-founded IndiQube with her husband, Rishi Das, in 2015, building flexible workspace solutions for startups and enterprises across major Indian cities.

She holds an MBA in Finance from IMT Ghaziabad and is also a qualified Company Secretary.

Before IndiQube, she co-founded HirePro Consulting, a recruitment firm, at the age of 25, and later launched Ultrafine Minerals in 2009.

In 2025, Fortune India included her in its 100 Most Powerful Women in Business list, while Forbes India recognised her as an Icon of Excellence at W-Power 2025. Recently, she has also received the “Woman Entrepreneur of the Year” award from Entrepreneur India.

As of late 2025, Agarwal was also counted among the top eight richest women startup founders in India.

She owns a 15.99% stake in IndiQube Spaces Ltd, valued at roughly $90 million, or about Rs 800 crore, as of September 2025.

IndiQube manages 10 million square feet of flexible workspace across 17 cities in India and provides infrastructure to thousands of businesses.

The company made its Dalal Street debut with a Rs 700-crore IPO in July 2025, marking one of the largest listings in India’s coworking and managed office space sector.

3. Falguni Nayar (Nykaa)

Falguni Nayar founded Nykaa in 2012 at the age of 49, after leaving her role as managing director at Kotak Mahindra Capital.

The platform began as an online beauty retailer and later expanded into fashion and offline retail stores. Nykaa now sells over 4,000 brands across beauty and fashion categories and operates 100+ physical stores in India.

Nykaa became one of India’s most successful consumer startups and debuted on the stock market in 2021 at a valuation of nearly $13 billion, making Nayar one of India’s richest self-made women entrepreneurs.

4. Ghazal Alagh (Mamaearth)

Alagh’s entrepreneurial journey was sparked by a personal experience. After the birth of her son Agastya, she struggled to find safe, toxin-free baby care products in India when he developed skin issues. This is when Ghazal Alagh co-founded Mamaearth with her husband in 2016. It initially focused on toxin-free products for mothers and babies, but later expanded into a full range of skincare and haircare products.

Leveraging influencer marketing and digital-first distribution, its parent company Honasa Consumer later reached unicorn status (valuation over $1 billion) and went public in 2023.

In 2021, Ghazal Alagh became one of the original investors on Shark Tank India, a startup reality show where entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to investors. She was also featured on Forbes’ 2022 Asia’s Power Businesswomen list, which recognises influential women entrepreneurs and executives across the region.

5. Vineeta Singh (Sugar Cosmetics)

Vineeta Singh’s entrepreneurial journey began long before Sugar Cosmetics. After graduating from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, she turned down a lucrative job offer to pursue entrepreneurship. Vineeta Singh co-founded Sugar Cosmetics in 2015. 

The brand grew rapidly through digital-first marketing and now sells through a wide network of retail stores as well as major e-commerce platforms across India.

She studied BTech at IIT Madras and later completed her MBA at IIM Ahmedabad. Her estimated net worth is around Rs 270 crore ($30 million). Before SUGAR, she founded Quetzal, a background verification company in 2007, which she later described as a "spectacular failure".

In 2012, she co-founded Fab Bag, a beauty subscription service that provided the critical consumer insights needed to launch SUGAR Cosmetics in 2015. 

She was ranked #7 in the Impact 50 Most Influential Women of 2024 and named CEO of the Year at the SABRE South Asia 2024 awards. 

6. Upasana Taku (MobiKwik)

Upasana Taku is one of the few women founders in India’s fintech sector. She co-founded MobiKwik in 2009, building a digital payments platform at a time when mobile wallets were still a relatively new concept in India.

Over the years, the company expanded into financial services such as digital credit and buy-now-pay-later solutions. Today, MobiKwik serves over 140 million users and more than 4 million merchants across India. Her work contributed to India’s rapidly evolving digital payments ecosystem.

Before launching the startup, Taku worked with PayPal in Silicon Valley and HSBC in India, gaining experience in global payment infrastructure.

7. Ruchi Kalra (OfBusiness)

Ruchi Kalra co-founded OfBusiness, a B2B commerce and financing platform designed to help small and medium enterprises procure raw materials and access working capital.

Kalra studied engineering at IIT Delhi and later earned an MBA from ISB Hyderabad. She reportedly faced more than 70 investor rejections before securing funding for her venture

The M3M Hurun India Rich List 2025 estimates Ruchi Kalra’s personal wealth at around Rs 4,000 crore.

Operating in the industrial supply chain sector, OfBusiness has grown into one of India’s largest B2B commerce platforms. OfBusiness became a unicorn startup valued at over $5 billion and serves thousands of SMEs across sectors such as manufacturing, infrastructure, and construction.

8. Radha Vembu (Zoho Corporation)

Radha Vembu is a key figure behind Zoho Corporation, a global SaaS company founded in 1996. Despite her massive wealth, she actively serves as the Product Manager for Zoho Mail, one of the company's flagship services with millions of users globally.

Unlike many startups in the ecosystem, Zoho grew without venture capital funding.

The company has built a wide suite of enterprise software products used by businesses worldwide. Zoho offers 50+ business software products used by tens of millions of users worldwide.

As of March 2026, she is recognised as one of India's wealthiest self-made women. According to the Candere Hurun India 2025 list, she has a net worth of Rs 55,300 crore.

9. Nikita Prasad (GIVA)

Nikita Prasad co-founded GIVA in 2019, a direct-to-consumer jewellery company that focuses on contemporary designs and online-first retail. The company has leveraged digital marketing and e-commerce to reach younger consumers and expand into offline retail through exclusive brand stores. 

Before launching GIVA, she worked as a design intern at prestigious houses like Pallavi Foley Boutique Jewels and Vogue Crafts and Designs. Interestingly, she also spent six months as a teacher in a play school early in her career.

In June 2025, GIVA raised $62 million in a Series C funding round to further scale its operations.

Prominent Investors: The brand is backed by high-profile investors, including Premji Invest (the family office of Azim Premji), Sixth Sense Ventures, and A91 Partners.

10. Kanika Tekriwal (JetSetGo)

Kanika Tekriwal co-founded JetSetGo along with Sudheer Perla in 2014, building a marketplace for private aviation services. Often described as the “Uber for private jets,” the company built a platform connecting aircraft owners with customers seeking charter services.

Tekriwal launched JetSetGo after overcoming personal health challenges and went on to become one of India’s most recognised aviation entrepreneurs.

She entered the aviation industry at age 17, working for various aviation companies before founding her own venture.

She has been recognised as the youngest self-made woman on the Hurun Rich List. Featured in Forbes 30 under 30 Asia for her impact on the aviation and e-commerce sectors.

“Sky Queen” title bestowed by Entrepreneur magazine for her leadership in private aviation. 

While women founders still represent a small share of India’s business ecosystem, their impact across industries is increasingly difficult to ignore.

As conversations around gender equity gain momentum every International Women’s Day, these stories highlight an important shift. Women entrepreneurs are no longer confined to niche sectors or emerging spaces. The next wave of founders will likely include many more women who are not just participating in the ecosystem but actively shaping its future.