Having founded Nykaa at the age of 50, she took on established ecommerce giants, hardly raised any venture capital, and turned profitable in a cash-guzzling sector to successfully take her company public last year.
All of this led the jury to pick Nayar as CEO of the year, a new category introduced at the Economic Times Startup Awards to showcase the growth and maturity of the ecosystem.
Nykaa’s business model and Nayar’s journey stood out for the jury during the detailed deliberations. While the final decision was unanimous, jury members took note of Delhivery CEO Sahil Barua’s skill in guiding the logistics company to a successful IPO through turbulent market conditions.
Delhivery had won ET Startup of the Year award in 2019. Barua, himself a jury member, recused himself from the discussions and the voting process.
Nayar has been the winner of the Woman Ahead category at ETSA 2017 and won Businesswoman of the Year award at the ET Awards for Corporate Excellence in 2019.
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In addition to Nykaa’s omni-channel model, the company’s frugal approach to fundraising for close to a decade was also one of the factors attributed by the jury to the CEO’s success. A jury member called Nykaa almost a “bootstrap startup.”
Having raised funds judiciously as a private startup—just $78 million—the founding Nayar family continues to hold a majority stake in Nykaa after its IPO last year and maintains firm control even as a publicly listed company.
“There is Sephora and Ulta Beauty globally which are large offline beauty retailers but Nykaa is unique in the sense of starting online first and then expanding offline,” one of the jury members said during the discussions.
In November last year, the company raised over Rs 5,350 crore through its IPO, amid a rush of new-age startups tapping the public markets.
“For the longest time one questioned whether there can be a standalone company in the beauty category, considering the tough competition from horizontal players,” said jury member Shailendra Singh, MD, Sequoia India & Southeast Asia. “A company like Nykaa could not emerge in other major markets. Falguni is a great entrepreneurial role model and it takes a lot of maturity and discipline to say no to capital.”
Nykaa was a profitable ecommerce firm at the time of listing–a rare feat when biggies like Walmart’s Flipkart and Amazon India are yet to show profits, signalling the cash-guzzling nature of the sector.
“From Day Zero, our business has been about creating customer delight and elevating the shopping experience -keeping at its core authenticity, content, convenience and curation. Prioritising sustainable growth with emphasis on right unit economics has been crucial to Nykaa’s success,” said Nayar, CEO, Nykaa on winning the award.
Before starting Nykaa in 2012, Nayar was a successful investment banker at Kotak Mahindra Bank, having spent 18 years leading several verticals there.
“Falguni has broken all the stereotypes and expectations of a startup disruptor, and has led Nykaa to build a well moated business in the highly competitive e-commerce sector,” said jury member Satyan Gajwani, vice-chairman, Times Internet.
Sequoia’s Singh and Gajwani, recused themselves from voting in this category owing to investments in Amrish Rau-led Pine Labs and Delhivery, respectively.
In FY22, the Mumbai-based firm’s gross merchandise value (GMV) grew by 71% to Rs 6,993 crore. As CEO, she has also led the acquisition of majority stakes in direct-to-consumer brands to build a house of brands.
She has steadily expanded Nykaa-owned brand portfolio to 10 in the beauty and wellness space and 11 for its fashion business. It has 112 stores in 52 cities.
Charting Nykaa’s next steps, Nayar is now signing deals with multinational companies to expand the beauty retailer’s overseas footprint.
Other contenders
Sahil Barua | Delhivery
ETtechCEO’s Achievements: After building Delhivery over a decade, Sahil Barua took the company public when markets were volatile. Delhivery still made a good debut on the bourses with its stock price holding up to its issue price compared to other new-age peers. Delhivery continues to focus one commerce deliveries but Barua is expanding its B2B offerings.
Amrish Rau | Pine Labs
ETtechB Amrish Rau, CEO, Pine Labs
CEO’s Achievements: Since taking over as CEO, Amrish Rau has transformed Pine Labs, which was just a point-of-sale provider, into a full-stack digital payments firm. The company’s valuation has grown over threefold since he joined Pine Labs. Rau has IPO plans for the firm but those are on hold amid choppy market conditions globally.
Kalyan Krishnamurthy | Flipkart
ETtechKalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart Group
CEO’s Achievements: Kalyan Krishnamurthy has steered Flipkart through multiple crises and has been in firm control of the ecommerce firm since the Walmart acquisition in 2018. He has now taken Flipkart to new categories, including travel, epharmacy and social commerce, while maintaining its lead in core categories against rival Amazon India.
Hari Menon | BigBasket
ETtechHari Menon, Cofounder & CEO, BigBasket
CEO’s Achievements: Hari Menon has ensured BigBasket remains in pole position in the online grocery market amid tough competition from Flipkart, Amazon and even Zepto with its ultra-fast delivery. Now owned by Tata Digital, BigBasket is scaling up further, with annual growth of around 40% and sales projections of $1.5 billion in FY23.
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