How Shark Tank-fame Vineeta Singh survived bankruptcy multiple times to turn Sugar into a rising brand

From homemade pickle sellers to entrepreneurs offering electric vehicles, Shark Tank India has inspired millions of aspiring startup founders to turn their ideas into reality. Together its judges have invested more than Rs 81 crore, of which almost Rs 10 crore has come from Sugar Cosmetics founder Vineeta Singh.

In an environment where 90 per cent startups fail, Singh has managed to build a startup that is close to turning profitable, after reaching the brink of bankruptcy multiple times.

Rejecting high paying job for entrepreneurship

As an alumnus of India's top management institute IIM-A, Singh rejected a Rs 1 crore offer in 2007, and decided to pursue entrepreneurial aspirations.

Fab Bag, her cosmetic subscription venture with husband Kaushik Mukherjee, had already failed and then they launched Sugar in 2012.

They reached the point of wrapping up the business repeatedly, but as a marathon runner, Singh kept going.

From a seed fund of Rs 1 crore, Sugar reached a top line of Rs 222 crore by 2022, and now offers 550 products through 40,000 retail outlets.

Accelerating expansion in small towns and abroad

As the firm plans to reach one lakh stores by 2024, it already gets 50 per cent of its revenue from offline sales, while 50 per cent comes from online.

It now eyes 60 per cent of its income from offline sales, as it braces for an IPO in the next couple of years.

Singh is the face of Sugar which is now competing with Nykaa led by India's richest self made woman Falguni Nayar.

As of now, 65 per cent of its revenue is flowing in from tier II and tier III cities, while Sugar is eyeing expansion into Russia, US, Gulf Countries and Nepal.