The venture capital space is seeing an influx of women leaders who are not only making significant strides in investment but are also reshaping the ecosystem. While these women VCs have had their share of tremendous successes, they’ve also encountered challenges and failures along the way. Here’s a look at some of the most influential women in Indian venture capital, along with the highs and lows of their journeys.
1. Aarti Gupta (IvyCap Ventures)
Aarti Gupta has led successful investments in startups like Purplle and Clovia, which have thrived in India’s booming beauty and personal care space. However, her early investments in tech startups did not yield expected returns, teaching her to align her focus on sectors she understood deeply, like consumer goods.
2. Ankita Vashistha (Saha Fund)
Founder of Saha Fund, Ankita has been a strong proponent of women-led startups. Her fund has seen success in healthtech and fintech, but early ventures in edtech, such as investments in a now-defunct startup, highlighted the importance of timing and market readiness.
3. Namita Thapar (Emcure Pharmaceuticals)
Namita’s investments in healthcare have been successful, but her experience in tech ventures, which lacked proper market fit, resulted in financial losses. These failures redirected her focus to the healthcare sector, where her expertise lies.
4. Vani Kola (Kalaari Capital)
Vani Kola’s VC firm Kalaari Capital is synonymous with success, having backed companies like Cure.fit and Snapdeal. However, not all bets paid off. Urban Ladder, once a promising e-commerce startup, struggled and was eventually sold at a lower valuation, marking one of Kalaari’s notable setbacks.
5. Bharati Jacob (Seedfund)
Bharati’s investment in RedBus was a huge success, with a lucrative exit. However, other ventures in early-stage consumer startups didn’t take off, teaching her the importance of scalability and execution in business models.
6. Debjani Ghosh (NASSCOM)
Debjani has mentored several startups through NASSCOM, focusing on tech innovation. While she has contributed immensely to the growth of tech startups, not all ventures have reached their potential, particularly those lacking digital infrastructure and operational depth.
7. Bala Deshpande (MegaDelta Capital)
With successful investments in companies like Croma, Bala Deshpande has demonstrated her ability to scale consumer businesses. Nonetheless, several portfolio companies in retail faced setbacks due to shifts in consumer behavior during the pandemic, leading to financial difficulties.
8. Padmaja Ruparel (Indian Angel Network)
Padmaja has nurtured startups like Wow! Momo, but her involvement in a few fintech ventures did not yield the expected results. These failures highlighted the volatility and high-risk nature of fintech investments.
9. Archana Jahagirdar (Kris Gopalakrishnan Family Office)
While Archana has driven growth in healthcare and tech through the family office, a few of her investments in niche tech startups failed to scale, reinforcing the lesson that market size and demand are critical.
10. Kanika Mayar (Vertex Ventures)
Kanika Mayar has had successes in SaaS and fintech, but several of her consumer tech investments did not perform well, reflecting the unpredictability of consumer behavior in the Indian market.
11. Alia Bhatt
Alia’s environmentally-conscious investments, like Phool.co, have been celebrated for their innovation, but some of her ventures in fashion tech, such as StyleCracker, faced challenges in scaling, demonstrating the difficulty of combining tech and fashion in India.
12. Anisha Singh (SheCapital)
Anisha’s investments in women-led startups have been impactful, but some of her early-stage companies struggled with market penetration, showing the challenges of nurturing early-stage businesses.
13. Deepika Padukone
Deepika’s investments in Epigamia were highly successful, but her bet on space-tech startup Bellatrix Aerospace faced technical challenges, reminding her that deep tech investments often come with long gestation periods.
14. Falguni Nayar (Nykaa)
Falguni Nayar’s story with Nykaa is one of India’s most successful ventures. However, early investments in smaller beauty startups faced failure due to stiff competition and high customer acquisition costs.
15. Ghazal Alagh (Mamaearth)
Mamaearth is a multi-million-dollar success, but Ghazal admits that her initial investments in a tech-enabled baby-care marketplace didn’t take off. Learning from this, she pivoted to a more consumer-focused business model.
16. Meeta Malhotra (The Hard Copy)
Meeta’s work in helping startups refine their branding has been invaluable, though some of her ventures in digital storytelling platforms did not gain
