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Last Updated:March 08, 2026, 11:32 IST
Women’s Day 2026 highlights women entrepreneurs transforming India’s startup ecosystem, from Nykaa and Mamaearth to AI and SaaS innovators building global companies.
Several women founders have helped reshape India’s startup ecosystem by launching companies across sectors such as AI, education, beauty, logistics and digital platforms. (AI generated image)
Women’s Day 2026: Every year on March 8, people around the world commemorate Women’s Day to celebrate and honour the achievements of women in various fields. One of the areas where women have made a strong and impressive impact is the technology startup space. Over the years, women have launched innovative startups that solve real-world problems. So, on the occasion of Women’s Day 2026, let’s have a look at some of the most renowned startups founded by women in India.
Aditi Gupta – Menstrupedia
An alumna of the Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, Aditi Gupta experienced period-related stigma while growing up. Motivated by that experience, she decided to create educational resources for young girls. She co-founded Menstrupedia to raise awareness surrounding menstrual health.
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Ashwini Asokan – Mad Street Den
Ashwini Asokan, a Carnegie Mellon alumna, is the CEO and co-founder of Mad Street Den. It is an AI startup that she launched with her husband, Anand Chandrasekaran, in 2013. The Chennai-based company’s platform, Vue.ai, helps companies build AI-powered applications using image, video and text data.
Divya Gokulnath – Byju’s
An entrepreneur and educator, Divya Gokulnath is the co-founder and director of Byju’s. When she was just 21, she began her teaching career. Later, she co-founded the Bengaluru-based edtech company with her husband, Byju Raveendran, in 2011. In 2024, the company faced severe financial and operational challenges. They are currently trying to rebuild it.
Falguni Nayar – Nykaa
Falguni Nayar launched the beauty e-commerce platform, Nykaa, in 2012 after leaving her job in investment banking. She began her entrepreneurial journey at the age of 50 and has built Nykaa into one of India’s leading beauty and lifestyle retailers that offers products from over 1,500 domestic and international brands.
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Ghazal Alagh – Mamaearth
Another popular name in the field of beauty, Ghazal Alagh, is the co-founder of the D2C brand Mamaearth. She launched the company with her husband, Varun Alagh, in 2016. Besides this, she is also an angel investor and previously founded the fitness platform dietexpert.in. She also garnered widespread attention for her stint on Shark Tank India’s first season.
Manju Dhawan – Ecom Express
Manju Dhawan is the co-founder of the popular logistics company, Ecom Express. She launched it in 2012 along with TA Krishnan, K Satyanarayana, and Sanjeev Saxena. Before founding her own company, she spent over two decades working with Blue Dart Express. Her company has services across India through thousands of delivery centres.
Minu Margeret – Blissclub
To address the lack of functional activewear for women in India, Minu Margaret founded Blissclub, an athleisure brand, in 2020. Based in Bengaluru, the company started as an online platform and has since expanded its product range and even opened offline stores.
Namrata Asthana – Blue Tokai Coffee
Namrata Asthana, along with Matt Chatharanjan, co-founded Blue Tokai Coffee in 2012 after noticing a lack of quality coffee options in Delhi. Their company sources single-estate Arabica beans from across India, roasts them on order, and directly sells them to consumers and businesses.
Prukalpa Sankar – Atlan
Along with Varun Banka, Prukalpa Sankar co-founded the SaaS startup Atlan in 2018. The platform helps teams collaborate and manage data assets in one place. A World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer, she has previously co-founded SocialCops in 2013.
Sahradayi Modi – Pratilipi
In 2015, Sahradayi Modi co-founded the self-publishing and storytelling platform, Pratilip, with Ranjeet Pratap Singh, Sankaranarayanan Devarajan, and Rahul Ranjan. The platform helps to connect millions of readers and writers across 12 Indian languages. It boasts a 9.5 lakh-strong writer base and 1.5 crore listeners.
First Published:
March 08, 2026, 07:15 IST
News events Women’s Day 2026: Female Tech Founders That Reshaped India’s Startup Ecosystem
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