India is witnessing an increase in the proportion of female-led D2C enterprises since the epidemic. Even more positive is the fact that new markets are being penetrated, such as vegan cuisine and baby care and shoes.
Regardless of your gender identification, pursuing entrepreneurial ambition requires a significant investment of time, money, and energy. Women find it more difficult to be taken seriously when they start their own businesses, even if I can’t speak for all women—in fact, here I am—exactly. Additionally, the amount of career disappointments encountered along the route is sufficient to undermine anyone’s self-esteem, which is why it should be celebrated when women-led D2C brands draw attention from the general public.
We’d like to use this opportunity to introduce you to the d2c brands that these amazing ladies are leading!
Indian D2C Brands Led by Women
Sugar Cosmetics
Vineeta Singh and her husband Kaushik Mukherjee launched Sugar Cosmetics, an online cosmetics and beauty firm, in 2015. IIM-A alumna Vineeta Singh was recently on the Shark Tank India series. In addition, she is a dedicated marathoner, triathlete, and mother of a 7-year-old.
The company, which began selling makeup palettes, eyeliners, and lipsticks in January 2022, purchased ENN beauty. Over the course of three investment rounds, the company has raised $35.5 million so far.
Prisytn Care
The three doctors that created Pristyn Care are Drs. Garima Sawhney, Vaibhav Kapoor, and Harsimarbir Singh. The startup is located in Gurgaon. Pristyn Care partners with 400 hospitals and operates more than 80 clinics.
Dr. Sawhney is an obstetrician and gynaecologist with fourteen years of expertise in the area. Pristyn Care became a unicorn with a $1.2 billion valuation in April 2021 after raising $96 million in funding under her direction. The healthcare organisation just introduced the patient safety-focused “CARES” initiative. CARES stands for comfort, accessibility, reliability, excellence, and safety. Its goal is to enhance the way that healthcare is delivered by giving patients access to post-operative care, surgical technology, and last-mile connection.
Spring Diaries
A clothing line called Spring Diaries (previously Red Velvet) was introduced for Gen Z consumers. The creative minds behind the brand are Megha Poddar and Shradha Ponnappa. Both women, who graduated from the Vogue Institute of Fashion Technology, entered the lifestyle and fashion industries and are now selling jumpsuits, Kurta sets, kids’ clothes, and home goods.
The girls invested Rs 50 lakh to launch the brand, and since then, they have expanded the brand’s facility from 250 square feet to 2,400 square feet, which now includes Ponnappa’s personal boutique.
The Good Glam Group
Priyanka Gill and Darpan Sanghvi founded the Good Glam Group in 2017 after MyGlamm purchased Gill’s media company PopXo. Priyanka, an MBA candidate enrolled in the class of 2023 at both Columbia Business School and LBS, established POPxo in 2014 and then worked with the Good Glam Group to develop a content-to-commerce approach.
Profitable companies that the company has acquired include ScoopWhoop, The Moms Co., and BabyChakra. It is in negotiations to buy the Raymond Group and has made an additional investment of Rs 100 crore in Sirona Hygiene. This cash-and-stock transaction, which gives the Raymond group a stake in the business, will rank among the biggest purchases made in the clothing and cosmetics sectors. After raising $150 million in a funding round headed by Prosus, the triple G became a unicorn.
SuperBottoms
The native babycare brand of Navashya Consumer Products Ltd. is called SuperBottoms. An alumna of the Jamnalal Institute of Management Studies, Pallavi Utagi founded the business in 2015. The mothers on the team are the ones who run the business.
Cloth diapers, breastfeeding supplies, travel-friendly basics, swaddles, and blankets are among the baby and mothercare products made by SuperBottoms. In addition to being comfy, breathable, and hypoallergenic, the fabrics are eco-friendly and tailored to a baby’s delicate skin.
During a Series-A round in 2021, Titan Capital, DSG Consumer Partners, and Saama Capital invested $2.1 million in this brand. Alteria Capital led an additional Rs 3.5 crore in venture debt financing. Pallavi has declared that it will use this money to add sheet dryers and children’s underpants to its line of products.
The Sleep Company
In 2019, Harshil Salot and his spouse, Priyanka Goyal Salot, established The Sleep Company. Priyanka is an MBA graduate from IIM-C with background in both investment banking and healthcare. Salot had to reconsider the comfort of her mattress after experiencing sleep loss after giving birth. To create the smartGRID mattress, the two worked with Dr. A K Tripathi, a former DRDO scientist, and procured components from Japan. They made the decision to sell online in order to bypass middlemen and directly contact more customers.
Due to the product’s distinctiveness, investors have expressed interest in the business, allowing it to secure Rs 13.4 crore in a series-A fundraising round in which Fireside Ventures, LogX Ventures, and Varun Alagh from the recently formed unicorn, Mamaearth, participated. The company’s finances have expanded significantly since the epidemic, and in addition to their website, you can find their products featured on well-known e-commerce sites like Amazon and Flipkart.
Not only does this entrepreneur help the company become digitally native, but she hasn’t let motherhood stop her from being an adventurer, traveller, fitness enthusiast, and foodie!
The prospects of female leaders in the Indian direct-to-consumer market
The gender gap is narrowing as more women leaders enter the Indian D2C business. The achievements of female role models such as Falguni Nayar, Masaba Gupta, and several others have inspired other women to address specialised needs. A change in perspective brought about by social commerce has also affected what is in demand.
More and more female executives are realising that starting a business is necessary to accomplish something worthwhile in addition to being financially successful. This explains the rise in popularity of several goods associated with menstrual cleanliness, sexual wellness, organic diet, and environmental consciousness—all of which were formerly condemned by society norms.
Digital platforms provide a direct channel of communication between entrepreneurs and customers, which enables smaller, women-led direct-to-consumer firms to gain an advantage. Gender-neutrality has been promoted by funding and efforts sponsored by investors and the government. Consider the Niti Aayog’s introduction of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform. The program makes it easy for women to register and get services like incubation, training, mentorship, and marketing support from anywhere in the country. Such actions can assist female-owned direct-to-consumer (D2C) firms by assisting them in breaking through the door, building professional networks, researching the industry, and managing operations.
In conclusion, more women are launching labels and pursuing niches that satisfy crucial—and frequently unsaid—requirements thanks to a combination of financial support, social support, and digital technology.
