GHAZAL ALAGH, 34, who runs beauty and personal care brand Mamaearth, recalls the time when she was out to raise her first round of venture funding. Investors were reluctant to put money in her company just because it was run by a woman. Later, when her husband Varun Alagh joined as Co-founder, the questions continued: What if you guys split up? Who will run the company? “Founders can split up otherwise, too,” she says.
But these questions are seldom asked of male founders.
Another D2C (direct-to-consumer) beauty brand’s Founder, Vineeta Singh of SUGAR Cosmetics, shared recently on a podcast that she had to hide her baby bump at an investor meeting because she feared the funding would not go through otherwise. Both Alagh and Singh are prominent founders in India’s startup ecosystem—the world’s third-largest—today, and have vowed to empower other women, so they do not have to face the same situations.
Alagh, who’s an active angel investor, says, “Around 90 per cent of my portfolio companies are led by women founders. Back then [in 2016], it wasn’t a common thing. But the mindset is changing.” Singh, too, has made it a point to fund more women-led start-ups, where she is one of the sharks.
