Suchi Mukherjee, a successful digital entrepreneur, married and a mother of two, is a dreamer! The Founder and CEO of the online fashion and lifestyle brand – ‘LimeRoad’ may not need an introduction now, but here recalling her success story.
Education and Background
Suchi comes from a middle-class family. A graduate from St. Stephen College, Delhi and University of Cambridge. She went to London to pursue her masters in finance and economics from the London School of Economics. She worked as an ‘Investment banker’ with Lehman Brothers (1998). Later, worked with Virgin Media, eBay and Skype. She also ran and built UK’s classified businesses.
How Suchi Mukherjee Built LimeRoad
The thought and zeal to do something different and bigger led Suchi’s journey from being a successful corporate employee to an entrepreneur.
Suchi was on maternity break, scrolling through a magazine and noticed a necklace that she really liked. As the jewellery was from a local artisan in Mumbai, there was no way she could have that anytime soon. She realised that there was no consumer technology that made the availability of products easy. This triggered the idea of ‘LimeRoad’ which culminated in 2012.
She understood that the online presence of India’s manufacturing business is very small. She was passionate about digitising ‘India lifestyle manufacturing’ and felt the idea of fashion accessories and apparels was disruptive and innovative.
LimeRoad, from day one, was focused on ‘Women Fashion’. However, it later extended the product line for males, kids and the plus size segment. As a part of brand recall, the first physical outlet of LimeRoad was launched in Surat in 2018.
Her aim was to solve ‘online product discovery’ for women. Hence, envisioned LimeRoad as a people-centric discovery platform with a focus to maintain a freshness experience every day.
Investments
By 2018, they had raised $ 50 million in 3 rounds from Matrix India Partners, Tiger Global Management, LLC and Light-speed Venture Partners
$ 5 million in Series A in 2012
$ 15 million in Series B in 2014
$ 30 million in Series C in 2015
As of 2020, LimeRoad received Rs 11 crore funding from MA Willmind Holdings. According to Pitch-book, the valuation stands at $ 1.49 million backed by Venture Capital Series D funding with a total of 5 investors.
Awards/Achievements
Suchi was a part of Start-up India Conference 2016 and shared the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Other achievements include:
Won ‘Coolest Start-up of the year’ award (2015)
Won ‘Infocom Woman of the Year’, ‘Digital Business’ award (2015)
Won ‘Unicorn Start-up Award’ (2016)
Nominated for ET Start-up Award (2017)
LimeRoad’s first major step towards promoting the ‘Make in India’ campaign called for a partnership with the Madhya Pradesh Government’s M.P Laghu Udyog Nigam to promote handloom and handicraft products online in India.
What’s in it for me?
The mind can be the biggest blocker or contributor to success. So, once you are mentally ready, that is a good time to start entrepreneurship. Some traits, Suchi felt are important for success:
Fighter gene to sail through highs and lows
Clear vision
Right talent/team
Highly scalable business model
Funding/Capital
For her, LimeRoad is a way to build a beautiful consumer technology that gives Indians access to ‘Made in India’ products. To sum up her entrepreneurial journey, her self-belief, conviction in the idea, perseverance, passion, creativity, resilience and risk-taking ability are binding traits for success.
Be a ‘Dreamer’ and work towards it! Suchi’s success story justifies the proverb ‘Don’t just dream for success, work for it’.
