Meet 5 women entrepreneurs who received funding on Shark Tank India

In the first season of Shark Tank India, 49 percent of ventures that got funded had women co-founders, and 15 percent of ventures funded had solo woman founders.

In an interview with HerStory, Namita Thapar, Executive Director of Emcure Pharmaceuticals, says, “I think it’s incredible what we have achieved in season one. It gives a strong message to the startup ecosystem.”

Another woman shark on the show, Vineeta Singh, Co-founder and CEO, SUGAR Cosmetics shared the same sentiment.

Among the pitches funded, Vineeta spoke fondly of Malvica Saxena of Quriky Naari (a funky footwear brand) from Mathura, who hails from a traditional business family where her parents just expected her to graduate and get married. Then there’s Jimmy Shah, who founded a sugar-free ice-cream brand along with her two children, who “has so much clarity of purpose”.

The other male sharks on the show, Anupam Mittal, Aman Gupta, Peyush Bansal, and Ashneer Grover also funded women-led startups.

Here are a few women-led and co-founded startups that received funding on Shark Tank India.

Surabhi and Chetna Shah, Carragreen

After a two-year stint at TCS, in 2018, Surabhi Shah started Carragreen, a startup that produces biodegradable stationery and packaging solutions. The product range includes pens, pencils, seed paper diaries, and monthly calendars.

Surabhi’s mother-in-law, Chetna, soon joined her as a partner. Her sound experience in the bakery business helped Carragreen with innovation.

The startup also offers perforated biodegradable boxes that can be used to pack and transfer food articles. These boxes can transform into plates and spoons when required. Carraspoons, made from wood, are its best-selling product.

Carragreen is incubated at IIM-Bangalore, and was also among the top 100 women-led startups out of 6,000 selected for a course by NSRCEL–the startup incubator at IIM-B.

Carragreen acquired Rs 50 lakh in funding on Shark Tank India from sharks Peyush Bansal and Anupam Mittal, and hopes that the sharks’ networking and guidance will help Carragreen forge ahead.

Anoushka Jolly, Kavach

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At 13, Anoushka Jolly was the youngest to receive funding on Shark Tank India. In 2018, when she was a Class 6 student, she witnessed her friends bully a six-year-old and decided to do something about it. With help from her mentors at Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!), she started Anti-Bullying Squad (ABS), a website that organises one-on-one sessions in schools with the help of experts to combat bullying.

After organising anti-bullying sessions for three years, Anoushka decided to scale ABS by developing the Kavach app against bullying.

She told HerStory, “The app encourages either students that are victims/bystanders or parents of students that are victims/bystanders to report cases of bullying on the app. Victims and bystanders often find it difficult to report bullying as they are afraid their identity will be known, especially to the bully. That’s why we have also given an anonymous reporting option in the app. These reported incidents can then be analysed by the school and their counsellors to take appropriate action to resolve them. For example, on analysis most bullying cases take place in poorly-lit school corridors/corners…so cameras and good lighting can not only solve, but prevent a lot of cases.”

Kavach won Rs 50 lakh in funding from investors Aman Gupta and Anupam Mittal on Shark Tank India.

Aishwarya Biswas, Auli

Aishwarya Biswas launched her skincare brand Auli Lifestyle as a small business at home in 2017. It has now evolved into a full lifestyle line of skincare, haircare, body care and wellness products. A trained image consultant from the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, Aishwarya is a well-known face in the beauty industry, and was the winner of Lakme Sananda Tilotamma.

Auli, which began with 10 customers, now claims to have over 50,000 customers worldwide for its skincare, haircare, and overall wellness products. A part of the profits goes to families of Honey Hunters in the Sunderbans. The brand grew 5X from 2019 and now its ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) is over Rs 2 crore for this financial year.

Aishwarya pitched on Shark Tank India and received Rs 75 lakh funding for 15 percent equity from investor Namita Thapar. 

Malvica Saxena, The Quirky Naari

As a teenager, Malvica Saxena, who was born and raised in Mathura, had a quirky and offbeat taste and preferences in apparel and footwear, which she failed to find in her hometown.

In a market full of “boring and repetitive patterns”, she decided to launch The Quirky Naari in 2018 with hand-painted shoes. She started an Instagram page and approached influencers for collaboration.

Till now, the brand has collaborated with Raveena Tandon, Sunny Leone, Adaah Sharma, Ranvijay Singha, Rubina Dilak, Asim Riyaj, Paras Chhabra, Anita Hassanandani, and many more.

The Quirky Naari offers a variety of footwear, with its star products being bridal sneakers, hand-painted sneakers, and hand-painted jackets. So far, she has sold over 1,000 pairs of bridal sneakers.

“After the episode was aired, our Instagram account saw 10,000 new followers in just 36 hours. Our website crashed, and we clocked our average monthly sales in just 48 hours. We still have over 1,500 inquiries to cater to,” she told HerStory.

Malvica pitched The Quirky Naari at Shark Tank India and received Rs 35 lakh in funding for 15 percent equity from Anupam Mittal and Vineeta Singh, the sharks on the show.

Riya Khattar, Heart Up My Sleeves

During the pandemic, Riya Khattar notices that women were not spending much on clothes. She thought the time was right to create a product that could be added to existing outfits. This led to the launch of her brand Heart Up My Sleeves.

“The idea behind Heart Up My Sleeves is simple–to raise the glam quotient of a woman’s outfit or entire wardrobe with detachable sleeves, thereby giving a sleek and chic look. It also includes brooches and capes for a complete makeover,” she told HerStory.

The sleeves, capes, and brooches are manufactured in her father’s factory in Delhi where she has employed two tailors. Influencer Hansika Motwani has used them in one of Tony Kakkar's music videos. Komal Pandey, Niki Mehra, Bandagi Kalra, and Ankita Tiwari have also been styling the sleeves in multiple ways.

Riya pitched her idea at Shark Tank India and received Rs 25 lakh in funding from investors Vineeta Singh and Anupam Mittal.