Startups with Women Founders

Women have been equally involved in the Indian startup industry, having founded/co-founded some of the prominent ventures. Here is a list of 10 startups with Women Entrepreneurs behind them.

MyDala – Almost anyone who shops online knows about MyDala. Among the largest online coupon and discount platforms in India, MyDala was founded in 2009 by Anisha Singh. And in just few years, it has grown to handling around 200,000 transactions every day and targeting 400 Million consumers in over 200 cities.

Shopclues – An online shopping place selling products including everything from technology and fashion to footwear and Jewelery was co-founded by Radhika Ghai Aggarwal. She is currently the chief business officer of the ecommerce company.

MobiKwik – Upasana Taku, along with Bipin Preet Singh, founded the semi-closed mobile wallet and online payment platform MobiKwik in 2009. But this is not her only venture. She also founded Zaakpay, another payment gateway.

Yatra.com – It was founded by Dhruv Shringi, Manish Amin and Sabina Chopra in August 2006. It is among the largest online travel related websites in India. Speaking about the co-founder, Sabina Chopra is the COO of corporate hotels at Yatra. In the past, she has served as the executive vice president of operations.

Infibeam – Involved in online retailing, e-commerce, and software and internet services, Infibeam has Neeru Sharma as its co-founder and head of corporate and business development.

Zivame – After realizing that lingerie is an under-served category in India, Richa Kar co-founded Zivame in 2011. Today, it is the biggest online retailer of lingerie in India and is getting increasingly accepted by women as a comfortable way of shopping innerwear online.

YourStory – Hailing from Patna, YourStory founder Shradha Sharma had worked with The Times of India and CNBC TV18, getting her experience at field reporting. But it wasn’t until August 2008 that Shradha thought of starting her own venture – YourStory.

LimeRoad – Gurugram based LimeRoad happens to be India’s first boutique fashion marketplace for women and is run by Suchi Mukherjee. LimeRoad is an e-commerce platform where one can discover, share and shop. The startup has also risen a funding of $50 Million from investors.

Sheroes – Sheroes curates work from home jobs in India and helps women seeking careers while still giving time to their homes. The portal also helps women find relevant resources and mentors. It organizes community meets, job fairs, special workshops and programs, as well as coaching, mentoring, community resources to help women professionals. It was founded in 2014 by Sairee Chahal. She also co-founded Fleximoms, a platform for flexible jobs and returning professionals.

Sugarbox – Sugarbox is a gift subscription service aimed at women. The gifts include products in categories such as Fashion, beauty, lifestyle and gourmet products. The woman behind Sugarbox is Niharika Jhunjhunwala. Sugarbox was founded in November 2014.

Futuristic Technologies

From bendable displays to batteries that last for years, technology is continuously evolving. Here are some of the technologies that will be available sooner. Internet through power lines is the simplest of ideas. Instead of using separate fibre cables or phone lines, why not use the existing network of power cables to deliver data? If this enabled, one will no longer need to find Ethernet wires. One would just plug computer into the power socket for charging and it would get an Internet connection too.

Wireless Charging, one can just place gadget on an inductive mat and they will start charging. Set standards like Qi and PMA are already being used in devices and one can easily get a wireless charging mat, or opt for a smartphone case that add a wireless charging feature to device. Flexible screens are the new prototypes and research suggests that they will draw a lot less power than conventional displays.

Camera that doesn’t need focusing will let user to change the focus in an image after clicking. Since there is no need to focus while taking a photo, the camera will work faster. It captures depth information of the image and all the available light in the frame, enabling better low light images without flash and even 3D Images. Waterproof devices, there are many companies that are researching the application of Nano coating on the internal components of phones, which would make them waterproof without adding bulk to the devices.

Imagine having to charge cellphone only once a year. This could be possible with the use of fuel cell batteries which generate electricity for much longer than a Liion or alkaline battery. They do this using a chemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. Google has carried out demos of self-driving cars and there are rumors of other companies also trying their hand at developing this technology. These cars use various sensors with a computer ised vision system. The data from these is collected and analyzed by software that controls the vehicles. One can just set destinations, sit back and relax.