Ruchi Kalra, Co-founder & CFO of OfBusiness, and Co-founder & CEO at Oxyzo

“Every rejection is an opportunity.”

Ruchi Kalra stands as India’s most successful startup founder, with the distinctive achievement of co-founding two companies—OfBusiness and Oxyzo, both of which have attained unicorn status and boosted profitability.

Ruchi’s business philosophy is grounded in a clear-cut principle—extracting profit from every transaction. However, this approach doesn’t align with the preferences of investors who typically lean towards growth through expenditure. Due to this, she was rejected 73 times by investors when launching OfBusiness.

But as she says, “Every rejection is an opportunity,” and unfazed, she went on to launch her businesses alongside her husband, Asis Mohapatra, adhering to the same strategy, while keeping profitability in mind.

In 2015, Ruchi founded OfBusiness, a business-to-business platform specialising in the sale of raw materials and industrial supplies, and today the company achieved an impressive valuation of ₹ 52,000 crores. Ruchi also serves as the CEO of Oxyzo Financial Services, which she founded when she was nine months pregnant. Oxyzo is the lending arm of OfBusiness, which successfully raised $200 million at a valuation of $1 billion (₹ 8,200 crores).

Today, Ruchi’s net worth is around ₹2800 crore, and due to her extraordinary contributions to the entrepreneurial landscape, she has been recognised as a ‘Top Successful Tech Startup Founder’ by Business Chief.

Talking about her success mantra, Ruchi shared in an interview with YourStory, “Take a moment to look in the mirror and say, ‘I am good enough.’ Refuse to let personal biases become the predominant voice in your mind. It’s okay to seek help. You don’t have to strive for perfection in everything. Reach out to your parents, spouse, and those around you for support.”

Image credit: BWDisrupt