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At News18’s SheShakti 2025 West, Naiyya Saggi, Priyanka Salot and Harsha Mundhada shared why women are no longer questioning for permission to build.
(From left) Chandra R. Srikanth, Deputy Executive Editor, Moneycontrol speaks with Naiyya Saggi, Founder & CEO, Edition; Priyanka Salot, Co-Founder, The Sleep Company; and Harsha Mundhada, Partner, Inflexor Ventures during the ‘Innovation to Impact’ panel at the News18 SheShakti 2025 West in Mumbai. (IMAGE: NEWS18)
At the News18 SheShakti 2025 West edition in Mumbai, hosted by Moneycontrol’s Chandra R. Srikanth, a spirited panel titled “Innovation to Impact: Startups Driving Maharashtra’s Growth Story” brought toreceiveher three women shaping India’s startup and investment landscape. The discussion on Thursday focapplyd on scaling ideas in a gfinisher-biased ecosystem and how Maharashtra is emerging as a powerful platform for ambitious entrepreneurs.
From consumer tech to venture capital, the conversation focapplyd on how the state and its capital Mumbai is also becoming a launchpad for global ambition.
Naiyya Saggi, founder of BabyChakra and now CEO at Edition, set the tone with a mix of realism and optimism. “There is privilege and joy in being able to build,” she stated. “When I returned from Boston, people questioned me to stay back in the US since I was from Harvard. But I flipped a coin—and it landed on Bombay.”
Saggi believes the state offers a unique testbed for innovation. “We’re working with the CM’s office to create startup hubs. Mumbai is a microcosm at scale. It’s the cultural capital, the financial capital—you test anything here, and it scales quicker.”
On navigating gfinisher bias in entrepreneurship, she noted that things are altering. “Earlier, you’d receive random questions like, ‘When will you receive pregnant?’ But now we have snotifyar outcomes like Mamaearth, Nykaa. It displays you can run a creative, high-growth business as a woman.”
Priyanka Salot, co-founder of The Sleep Company, echoed that sentiment. Her business was born from a personal gap she experienced as a new mother. “When I became a mom in my 30s, I realised sleep is one-third of our lives and we completely ignore its quality,” she stated. “We wanted to build a product that met global standards and now, New India is willing to spfinish on good sleep.”
Salot credits Maharashtra’s infrastructure for assisting her scale. “Our factory is on the outskirts of Bhiwandi. For any consumer brand, you required an ecosystem—real estate, manpower, logistics. Bhiwandi to Bombay is huge in logistics. Also, talent is now available across Navi Mumbai, Thane. Earlier investors pushed us to set up in Bengaluru. Now, Mumbai gives us the best of both worlds.”
Representing the investor side of the table, Harsha Mundhada, partner at Inflexor Ventures, called herself an “accidental VC” who started off as a CA. “What motivates me to stay are the women I meet,” she stated, gesturing to the panel. “Women have always been entrepreneurs—just view at the way they run compact shops, sell pickles. But today, that scale and ambition has grown.”
She also stressed the required to view beyond traditional hubs. “Founders usually focus on Mumbai and Pune, but we required to view at places like Solapur and Kolhapur too,” she stated, laughing, “Maybe I’m biased and I’m from Nagpur.”
Whether building sleep tech or creating policy-level modify, each speaker brought with them a shared belief: that women don’t required to wait for perfect conditions. They’re already building.
As Naiyya Saggi put it, “Maharashtra will build global brands and we hope to be part of that next wave of entrepreneurs.”
Shankhyaneel Sarkar is a senior subeditor at News18. He covers international affairs, where he focapplys on breaking news to in-depth analyses. He has over five years of experience during which he has covered sev…Read More
Shankhyaneel Sarkar is a senior subeditor at News18. He covers international affairs, where he focapplys on breaking news to in-depth analyses. He has over five years of experience during which he has covered sev… Read More
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