Suchi Mukherjee’s Entrepreneurial Journey with LimeRoad
By Snigdha Basu
November 1, 2023
Suchi Mukherjee, the visionary behind LimeRoad, grew up in a middle-class family and has made a significant mark in the online shopping industry. Established in 2012, LimeRoad is India’s pioneering women’s social shopping platform, offering a diverse range of clothing and accessories for women, men, and children.
Mukherjee has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career. Notably, in 2011, she was recognized as one of the “Rising Talent – Global Leaders Under 40” by the World Women’s Forum. Other prestigious awards include Business Today’s Coolest Startup of the Year (2015), INFOCOM Women of the Year (2015), the Unicorn Startup Award from NDTV (2016), and a nomination for the ET Startup Award by The Economic Times (2017).
Educational Background and Career
Hailing from Haryana, Suchi Mukherjee has always been a top performer academically. She completed her undergraduate degree at St. Stephen’s College in Delhi before pursuing further studies at the University of Cambridge, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics with Maths. At Cambridge, she was a Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholar & Fellow and a Chadburn Scholar. She later obtained an MSc in Finance and Economics as a British Chevening Scholar.
Mukherjee’s professional journey includes significant roles at various renowned companies. She was a Senior Associate of Corporate Finance at Lehman Brothers (July 1998 – June 2003) and worked at Virgin Media (June 2003 – May 2005) as Director of Change & Business Development. Her role at Virgin Media involved managing a revenue stream of $2.5 billion. Mukherjee also served as Business Seller Programs and CS Head at eBay Inc., before advancing to Director & Member of the Executive Management Team at Skype, an eBay subsidiary (July 2007 – December 2008). As Managing Director & GM at Gumtree (an eBay Inc. company, January 2009 – August 2011), she led the company to the top position in its sector.
Inspiration and Vision
Reflecting on her motivation, Mukherjee shared:
“Here is an industry which is our strength. All I wanted to do was to use technology so that manufacturers, designers, and sellers could flourish and users could source beautiful products, which currently they were not able to.”
Her inspiration stemmed from the lack of platforms for discovering accessories and lifestyle products and the absence of a bridge connecting Indian consumers with internationally manufactured goods. Determined to address these gaps, Mukherjee envisioned creating a platform that not only offered beautiful and affordable accessories but also leveraged India’s role as a major manufacturing hub for global lifestyle products. LimeRoad has since evolved into a leading female-founded fashion brand in India, consolidating vendors in the lifestyle category under one platform. Mukherjee added:
“With a passion for driving change and innovation, which is also the core element of LimeRoad’s culture, I got together with my co-founders to build something transformational.”
Since its inception, LimeRoad has achieved substantial growth, attracting over 50 million visitors. Today, it competes with major players like Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, and Snapdeal.