Falguni Nayar founded Nykaa, India's largest e-commerce beauty company headquartered in Mumbai, in March 2012. She is India's richest self-made female Billionaire inspiring many female entrepreneurs.
AASHISH KUMAR JHA | Apr 20, 2023 |
Meet Falguni Nayar: India’s Richest Self-Made Woman Billionaire, Founder of India’s Biggest Beauty Start-Up Valued around 1 lakh Crore
Falguni Nayar: Someone has said truly that age is just a number. It can be validated by the spectacular entrepreneurial journey of Falguni Nayar, the founder of Nykaa. She started her entrepreneurial venture at the age of 49, quitting a stable career. Now, She is India’s most rich self-made woman billionaire. She faced several ups and downs during this journey. Falguni Nayar’s journey from a successful corporate career to founding one of India’s most successful e-commerce companies is an inspiration to women across the country.
Falguni Nayar is a name that resonates with millions of women in India. As the founder and CEO of Nykaa, India’s largest online beauty retailer, Nayar has revolutionized the Indian beauty industry and brought international brands and trends to the fingertips of Indian women. Nayar’s vision has not only changed the way Indian women shop for beauty products but has also paved the way for more women to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams. According to her, Entrepreneurship is an adventure that needs courage, where age and experience are not liabilities.
Falguni Nayar was born in 1963 to a Gujarati family residing in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Falguni’s father was a small businessman who ran a small bearings company. She completed her graduation with a B.Com from Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics, University of Mumbai. After that, She pursued MBA in Finance from the prestigious Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad.
Nayar started her career as a consultant with A.F. Ferguson & Co. In 1993, she joined Kotak Mahindra Group as the head of the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) team. Due to her phenomenal work, she was appointed as the managing director of Kotak Mahindra Capital in 2005. She spent 18 years at Kotak Mahindra Group before quitting her job in 2012 to create a startup.
Around 2009, Nayar, then a managing director at Kotak Mahindra Capital, began to think of a second career as an entrepreneur. By 2011, she had a few ideas, one of which was to establish a multi-brand shop in the beauty industry. She knew that beauty is essential in a person’s life, whether for men or women. It is always exciting to experiment with makeup and improve its characteristics. This is where Falguni Nayar decided to enter the online beauty segment market. Knowing the void present in the e-commerce beauty industry, she planned to launch an e-commerce beauty start-up. In order to do so, she resigned from her job at 49 and founded Nykaa in March 2012.
Nayar started Nykaa in her father’s small office at Lower Parel, Mumbai. She started with only three employees. Nykaa’s website was launched on 1st October 2012, however, the fully operational version of the website was launched in January 2023. Nayar recognized the potential of e-commerce in India, so created a platform that would offer Indian women a wider range of beauty products, including international brands that were not readily available in India. Nykaa started as an online-only retailer, offering a range of makeup, skincare, haircare, and wellness products. The company quickly gained popularity among Indian women who were looking for a more convenient and diverse shopping experience.
Nykaa’s growth story is nothing short of incredible. Nykaa’s portfolio comprises over 2,000 brands for women and men in makeup, skincare, hair care, perfumes, bath and body, luxury, and wellness items. Nykaa has expanded its product range to include its own private label products, as well as a curated selection of luxury beauty brands. Nykaa was the first to make luxury beauty brands available online in India, seeing the potential. Nykaa also pioneered the Korean beauty revolution in India, making major K-Beauty brands available to Indian customers. Nykaa has democratized the beauty industry of India, providing large-scale access to all segments of buyers as well as sellers.
Nykaa Fashion GMV Grows 168% To INR 1,751 Cr in FY22
The company now has over 100+ retail stores across India and has become the go-to destination for millions of Indian women looking to buy beauty products. It now sells beauty, wellness, and fashion products across websites and mobile apps along with offline stores. Currently, Nykaa retails over 2 lakh products across its platforms. In 2020 Nykaa became the first Indian Unicorn Start-Up headed by a woman. In November 2021, Nykaa was publicly listed on the NSE (National Stock Exchange of India) and BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange). The current valuation of Nykaa is around 13 Billion Dollars ( around 1 lakh crores).
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