May a thousand Nykaas bloom

When the stock market values a company 39 times its sales and 1,600 times its earnings, it would not be unnatural for the appellation 'crazy' to break itself free of all restraints and plant itself on the stock price. But Nykaa, and similar entities, occupy a rarefied space that eludes traditional companies: a space in which companies breathe, eat and drink technology, which permits exponential growth unimaginable in the past. This is so, regardless of what they actually sell to consumers. In the case of Nykaa, it is beauty products, the technology going into whose making is nothing exceptional. But it is in the use of technology to build the brand, reach out to consumers in small towns across India's vast geography, directly engage consumers and track their preferences that makes it different from traditional beauty businesses.

Nykaa's success, which has made its founder, former merchant banker Falguni Nayar, India's biggest self-made billionaire, is bound to produce imitators, not only of its method but also of its products. The market could differentiate into ultra-premium, premium, specialised and mass more rapidly than anticipated, with niche competitors eating up market shares. Traditional beauty businesses might rapidly adopt and adapt to online modes. All these might bring Nykaa's valuations down from the stratosphere to levels where an observer can expound admiration without gasping for breath. Such possibilities do not alter the bare fact that with Nykaa, we have a woman-led startup that finds global-scale success focusing primarily on the Indian market and the purchasing power of its women, in a matter of nine years. We applaud that achievement and wish Nykaa and its founder yet more success.

Nykaa's success should inspire many more women to shed their anxieties and embrace entrepreneurship, powered by technology. The same success should encourage venture capital to fund such entrepreneurs. That should change social attitudes towards women, their capabilities and ambitions, and move society closer to gender equality.