Falguni Nayar was born in 1963 in Mumbai and grew up in a Gujarati family.

Her father was a businessman and her mother used to work wit him. From a very young age, she became familiar with business community.  She graduated from Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics and completed her Acadmic center at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmeda. She began her career as a management consultant at AF Ferguson and Co. In 1993, Falguni joined Kotak Mahindra Bank Group and had a long career as an investment banker. From 2005 to 2012, she was Managing Director.
Despite this successful career, Falguni has set herself the age limit of 50 years for entrepreneurship. As the mother of twins, she took advantage of their departure to school to concentrate on this entrepreneurial project.

«And remember, no matter what anyone says, it’s never too late to start over»

In 2012, she abandoned Kotak on a «giant leap of faith». In search of a promising opportunity for India, she noticed the lack of choice and availability of beauty products in the Indian market.  This is how «Nykaa» («actress» in sanscrit) was born. The company is an e-commerce platform that offers beauty products from major international brands and confidential brands, ready-to-wear and wellness. With only 60 orders per day, the businesswoman was initially positioned in a rather high-end segment. But Falguni Nayar assumed this choice and insisted on quality of her products, which implied higher prices. 
What sets Nykaa apart from all its competitors is largely its inventory model. In this model, Nykaa buys products directly from manufacturers and stores them in her warehouses in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, after which they are sold to consumers via e-commerce or shops. This model, with its high inventory level, allows Nykaa to achieve economies of scale and thus increase margins.

In 2015, the company shifted from an exclusively online model to an omnichannel model and diversified. 

In 2018, company launched Nykaa Man, India’s first multi-brand e-commerce shop dedicated to men’s care.
In 2019, Falguni launched an external growth strategy with the acquisition of 20Dresses.com, a private women’s wear platform and Pipa Bella, Indian fashion jewellery brand. Same year, she launched Kay Beauty, a brand in partnership with actress Katrina Kaif.
The brand impressed again in 2021 with a thunderous IPO: valued at $13.5Bn, it managed to raise $690M, making Nykaa the largest Indian unicorn.

The brand currently sells over 4000 brands online and in its 100+ shops.

Nykaa offers 3 shop formats: Luxury, On Trend and Kiosks. Nykaa On Trend stores are for trendy and fashionable brands; Nykaa Luxe shops are for high-end brands such as Estee Lauder or Dior; and kiosk shops are smaller than Nykaa’s traditional shops.
Falguni Nayar is committed to causes close to her heart such as education, health, women’s rights and empowerment, rural development and natural disaster management.
Today, Nykaa has become a family empire with entry of Falguni’s twins into the business: son Anchit, a Columbia University graduate, runs the beauty e-commerce business, and daughter Adwaita, with an MBA from Harvard Business School, heads the fashion division.
Founder Falguni Nayar has become India’s richest self-made woman. The businesswoman lives in Mumbai with her husband and two twins. Together with her husband, she remains majority shareholders with 46%.