Role models like Falguni Nayar and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw are bringing a change in the ecosystem

Role Models Like Falguni Nayar and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw Are Bringing a Change in the Ecosystem

At TechSparks 2021, YourStory Media’s flagship event, Diane Janknegt, Anuradha Acharya, and Sunitha Ramaswamy spoke on the declining numbers of women in the workforce, challenges in raising funds, and more.

The latest Female Labour Force Participation rate shows a consistent decline to 16.1% during the July–September 2020 quarter. While the pandemic has ravaged several livelihoods, women-owned and led enterprises have borne a more significant brunt of the loss.

The Funding Conundrum

Anu Acharya, founder of MapmyGenome, shared her journey of fund-raising in the tech space:

“We raised two rounds of funding at Ocimum — the first company I started before MapmyGenome — almost $20 million, primarily for acquisition purposes. We made three acquisitions in the Netherlands, Germany, and the US, which helped us build databases and give us the intellectual property.”

When it came to MapmyGenome, Anu looked at angel investors who had an interest in healthcare — allowing them to build the right connections in the space and find opportunities to accelerate the startup. While Anu agrees she has not been too keen on funding so far, she believes fundraising can help MapmyGenome scale up.

Women entrepreneurs must consider when to raise, how much to raise, who to raise from, and what to do with the capital raised — before raising funds. Role models like Falguni Nayar (Nykaa) and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (Biocon) demonstrate that women-led enterprises can achieve extraordinary scale and impact in India’s innovation ecosystem.