Ankiti Bose Set To Be First Indian Woman Founder Of High-Value Startup

As the digital revolution becomes a way of life, women entrepreneurs are taking centrestage. Mumbai native Ankiti Bose, who started Zilingo in December 2014 along with Dhruv Kapoor, is in the spotlight after the four-year-old startup raised about $970 million in its latest round, according to two sources, Times Of India reported.

With its valuation approaching $1 billion, Zilingo -- a Southeast Asia-focused fashion e-commerce platform -- has reached near-unicorn status.

If successful, this would make Ankiti the first Indian female female co-founder and CEO of a high-value startup

Both Ankiti and Dhruv had quit their jobs to startup. Ankiti had started as an analyst at Sequoia India. She and Dhruv each had put in their $30,000 in savings to start Zilingo. On Tuesday, the Singapore-based company raised $226 million from investors, including Sequoia Capital and Temasek Holdings Pte. That makes 27-year-old Ankiti among the youngest female chief executives to lead a startup of the size in Asia.

"We were a bunch of twenty-somethings with nothing except this dream and we decided to chase it," Ankiti said

Ankiti, who graduated from St Xavier's College, Mumbai, with an economics and mathematics degree in 2012, says, "Personally, a lot of men have been very helpful to me in my journey. But of course, if you have more women in venture capital and more female entrepreneurs, then things will get a lot better."

READ: 5 Truly Creative Startup Stories And The Women Behind Them

"Ankiti was a terrific member of the analyst class at Sequoia India before starting Zilingo. She was razor sharp, hardworking and always switched on. While she always had the raw ingredients, it's been amazing to witness her transformation into a bold and dynamic founder and a business leader," said Shailendra Singh, MD of Sequoia Capital India, which seed-funded the company back in 2015.

We definitely need more such women entrepreneurs!

Feature Image Credit: Fortune

Also Read: Meet women entrepreneurs who are cracking the code

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