There has been a considerable rise in the number of successful women-led start-ups in India, with several reaching the coveted unicorn status. While the number of women entrepreneurs in the space is going up, a lot still needs to be done. Here’s what the data collated in The Point in ‘Business Today Magazine - Most Powerful Women in Business’ special issue decodes their entrepreneurial journey in numbers
In the past decade, 25 per cent of women-led start-ups have obtained funding
Women-led start-ups received funding of more than $1 billion for the sixth consecutive year in 2023
Since 2008, as many as 14 start-ups such as Mamaearth, Lenskart and MyGlamm, that were founded or co-founded by women, have become unicorns. Meanwhile, 6 women-led startups have become soonicorns in 2023 including Cbrex, Giva, The Souled Store, Recykal, Zypp Electric and Mobikwik
Only Zerodha is bootstrapped among the top 10 most valuable start-ups in India in which women were part of the founding team, which includes Zomato, BYJU’s, Upstox and Lenskart
Honasa Consumer, the parent of Mamaearth, is the third-largest start-up IPO in recent times, after Zomato and Nykaa
18 per cent proportion of startups are owned by women of the total 80,000 in 2022, which was up from 10 per cent of the roughly 6,000 in 2017. 35 per cent share of women are in the start-up workforce in India, compared to 19 per cent in corporates
Women-led start-ups are most prevalent in Bengaluru, followed by Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram and Pune
Magazine story by: Rahul Oberoi Graphics by: Raj Verma Produced by: Prashanti Moktan