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Meet the woman from IIT who sold her startup to Hindustan Unilever for 264 CR. 1. Born to a mother who worked as an officer with the Punjab government's healthcare department, Aarti would constantly wake up in the middle of the night for medical emergencies in the neighbourhood and saw many lives lost. She wanted to do something. 🤔 2. Gathering courage, she studied at IIT Roorkee and then completed an MBA at Insead. However, her childhood quest to work in preventive healthcare remained unanswered. In 2014, she took a big step.👇 3. She ditched the idea of a dream job and started her startup—Fitcircle. This application provided exercise boot camps, nutrition suggestions, and diet consultations with expert sessions. But the idea did not scale. ❌ 4. Aarti called her father teary-eyed but didn't tell him why she was crying. She woke up the next day to give one last fight and not give up. She tried a few experiments until she landed on one with her co-founder (Mihir). In July 2016, OZiva was born. 🚀 5. The idea was simple⏩ Provide botanical extracts and plant—and whole-food-based nutrition. After all, the O in their name signified 'Originality' while Ziva meant "radiance and brilliance". But Aarti had to make a plan to execute. 🤔 6. She sourced ingredients tested at NABL-accredited labs for nutrient profiling, filler ingredients, heavy metals, and toxicity check; after ingredient finalisation, manufactured at GMP-certified and USFDA-registered units and then one final check at dispatch. And the idea worked. ✅ 7. By 2019, OZiva scaled to a revenue of 21 CR and shipped to more than 1500 towns in India. 70% of its customers were 18-55-year-old women who used its star product - Protein and Herbs for Women, to address nutrient deficiencies and hormonal imbalances. It raised 38.5 CR in funding led by Matrix Partners. 💰 8. It kept growing by combining modern science with Ayurveda across its three pillars of fitness: nutrition, workouts, and mental wellness. It became World' s first first connected omnichannel nutrition brand where people could pick up a product from anywhere and consult a human expert digitally. And magic happened. 🪄 9. Oziva grew sevenfold in 12 months of COVID-19 to reach a revenue of 73 CR. It also onboarded Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone as its brand ambassador and raised 87 CR led by Eight Roads. By 2021, it had become a 600 CR company, but something was happening. 👇 10. Hindustan Unilever (HUL) wanted to enter the 30,000 CR fast-growing nutritional space. And what better it was than to acquire the 127.5 CR revenue force - OZiva? On 8th December 2022 - the announcement came. HUL acquires a 51% stake in Oziva for 264 CR. 🙌 11. Today, Oziva clocks a revenue of 199 CR. With products in 9 categories, it commands a 19% market share. ➡️ The teary-eyed Aarti Gill has completed her childhood dream by building a healthcare company backed by the biggest consumer company in India. She is a woman of glory! 🙏