She was only 23 when she turned down a one-million-dollar job offer from an investment bank to embark on her entrepreneurial journey. Veenita Singh is the Co-Founder and CEO of Sugar Cosmetics, a makeup-focused Indian beauty brand.
Singh was born in 1983 in Anand, Gujarat. Her mother holds a PhD and her father Tej P. Singh is a biophysicist at the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences.
In 2001, she graduated from Delhi Public School, R. K. Puram. Singh earned her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from IIT-M in 2005. During her studies in 2006, she worked as a summer intern at Deutsche Bank. She then earned an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad) in 2007.
She is a triathlete and ultramarathon runner with 20 marathons, ultramarathons, and 12 half-marathons under her belt. She also ran the 89-kilometer Comrades Marathon from 2012 to 2014.
Singh founded her first company, Quetza, in 2007. However, the idea of providing background checks to recruiters did not succeed in this highly competitive market.
In 2011, Vineeta Singh married Kaushik Mukherjee. She met Kaushik during their studies at IIM Ahmedabad. The couple have two sons named Vikrant Mukherjee and Ranveer Mukherjee.
In 2012, she launched her second venture, Fab-Bag, a subscription platform that provided monthly deliveries of beauty products. Her third start-up, Sugar Cosmetics, Singh founded together with her husband in 2015. The company sells cosmetics and personal care products geared towards the Indian market.
Sugar Cosmetics raised its initial funding of $2.5 million in 2016 from A91 Partners and India Quotient.
Sugar Cosmetics launched its first product, the Matte As Hell Lip Crayon, in July 2016. The product received positive reviews and quickly became a bestseller.
In 2019, Sugar Cosmetics raised $10 million in a funding round led by Belgium-based investment firm Maison Capital.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sugar Cosmetics launched a range of sanitizers and other personal hygiene products to cater to the changing consumer needs. Sugar Cosmetics has committed to sustainability by using recyclable packaging and reducing waste in its production processes.
She is one of the major investors/judges on the business reality show Shark Tank India.
In 2022, Vineeta along with the other Shark Tank India judges appeared as a VIP contestant in Kaun Banega Crorepati, She also appeared as a guest on The Kapil Sharma Show together with other Shark Tank India judges in the same year.
Few awards and recognitions –
Start-up of the year award 2019 by Entrepreneur Awards, Delhi.
Sugar Cosmetics received various awards and recognition for its products, including the Nykaa Femina Beauty Awards and the Cosmopolitan Beauty Awards.
She appeared on the hard copy cover pages of business magazines, such as Forbes India, Business Today, and Businessworld. In 2021, Forbes India listed Singh as one of its Forbes India W-Power list of women achievers.
Sugar Cosmetics expanded its reach beyond India by launching its products in the Middle East and South Asia.
Of the women, for the women, by ‘a’ woman: this was Vineeta Singh’s motto while creating Sugar Cosmetics. Sugar’s co-founder always knew she wanted to build a woman-centric brand. She is now not only an entrepreneur, but also an influencer whose entrepreneurial journey is making waves on social media.
Disclaimer – If you come across any concerns regarding the content, kindly reach us at editorial@ceovine.com, and we will address them within the next 48 hours.
