Richa Kar, founder of Zivame, who transformed how women shop for intimate wear in India.
Richa Kar founded Zivame in 2011 and changed lingerie shopping in India. Explore her journey, funding, growth, leadership and Zivame’s rise.
Written by TFN Research Desk | covering startups, technology, venture capital, and business strategy.
Table of Contents
- Who is Richa Kar?
- Early Life and Education
- Career Before Zivame
- How Zivame Started
- Funding History
- Revenue Growth and Recent Developments
- Public Recognition
- Zivame vs Competitors
- Investor Perspective
- Founder Timeline
- Key Takeaways
- FAQs
- Sources
Who is Richa Kar?
Richa Kar is the founder of Zivame, an Indian intimate-wear company she launched in 2011 after identifying major gaps in the way women shopped for lingerie. She built Zivame around privacy, convenience, wider choice and better access to information about fit. The company eventually expanded beyond online commerce into physical retail and became part of the Reliance Retail ecosystem.
Early Life and Education
Kar studied engineering at BITS Pilani and later completed her MBA from NMIMS Mumbai in 2007. She began her professional career in retail before moving into consulting and enterprise technology. Her education combined technical training with management, which later helped her approach lingerie retail as both a consumer problem and a business opportunity.
Career Before Zivame
Before starting Zivame, Kar worked with Spencer’s Retail and SAP. While working at SAP, one of her clients was Limited Brands, the parent company of Victoria’s Secret. Studying the business gave her a closer look at the scale of online lingerie shopping in developed markets and made the Indian market look considerably less developed by comparison.
How Zivame Started
Kar left SAP in 2011 and launched Zivame in Bengaluru later that year. Her research into Indian lingerie stores revealed a basic problem: customers often had limited choice, little privacy and poor guidance around sizing and fit.
Zivame attacked those problems online. Customers could browse products privately, compare sizes and brands, and have orders delivered discreetly. The company eventually expanded its offering and began building physical fitting and experience stores as online demand grew.
Funding History
| Round | Year | Amount | Lead Investor(s) |
| Series A | 2012 | Undisclosed | IDG Ventures, Kalaari Capital |
| Series B | 2013 | $6 million | Kalaari Capital, Unilazer Ventures |
| Series C | 2015 | $40 million | Zodius Technology Fund, Khazanah Nasional |
| Series C Plus | 2019 | $8.6 million | Zodius Capital, Allana Investments |
Zivame raised more than $50 million through its major disclosed funding rounds. Its 2015 Series C alone brought in ₹250 crore, with existing investors also participating.
Revenue Growth and Recent Developments
| Fiscal Year | Revenue | Net Loss |
| FY24 | ₹72.7 crore | Not publicly disclosed |
| FY25 | ₹165.7 crore | Not publicly disclosed |
Zivame’s FY25 revenue increased sharply from the previous year, according to Inc42. The company has evolved from an online lingerie marketplace into a broader intimate-wear retailer with both digital and physical channels. Reliance acquired a stake in Zivame in 2020, bringing the brand into its wider retail ecosystem.
Public Recognition
Kar was featured in Fortune India’s 40 Under 40 list and has been recognised among India’s prominent women entrepreneurs. Her story also received attention because she entered a category that was culturally uncomfortable to discuss openly in India and built a mainstream consumer business around it.
Zivame vs Competitors
| Company | Founded | Positioning |
| Zivame | 2011 | Intimate wear and women’s lifestyle |
| Enamor | 2001 | Women’s innerwear |
| Clovia | 2012 | Digital-first intimate wear |
| Amante | 2007 | Women’s innerwear and lingerie |
Zivame’s early advantage came from treating lingerie as a category that could be researched and purchased privately online. Its later shift toward physical stores gave it an omnichannel model rather than leaving the business dependent entirely on e-commerce.
Investor Perspective
Kar’s strongest founder advantage was identifying a neglected consumer problem before the category became crowded. She did not invent the need for lingerie, but she changed the way many Indian consumers could access it.
The bigger lesson is that category creation can be expensive. Zivame needed substantial capital to build technology, inventory, customer awareness and physical touchpoints. The company’s eventual integration with Reliance Retail shows the value of building a recognised consumer brand, but it also highlights how difficult independent scale can become in competitive retail.
Founder Timeline
- 2007: Completes MBA from NMIMS Mumbai.
- Early career: Works at Spencer’s Retail and SAP.
- 2011: Leaves SAP and launches Zivame.
- 2013: Raises $6 million Series B funding.
- 2015: Raises ₹250 crore Series C funding.
- 2017: Steps away from Zivame’s day-to-day operations and later resigns as CEO while remaining on the board.
- 2019: Raises additional funding.
- 2020: Reliance acquires a stake in Zivame.
- FY25: Zivame reports ₹165.7 crore in revenue.
Key Takeaways
- Richa Kar identified a major gap in India’s intimate-wear shopping experience.
- Her SAP experience helped expose her to the scale of online lingerie retail.
- Zivame made privacy and convenience central to the shopping experience.
- The company raised substantial institutional capital before becoming part of the Reliance Retail ecosystem.
- Kar stepped away from operational leadership in 2017, but her founding insight remained central to the brand.
FAQs
Who founded Zivame?
Richa Kar founded Zivame in 2011.
What did Richa Kar study?
She studied engineering at BITS Pilani and earned an MBA from NMIMS Mumbai.
Where did Richa Kar work before Zivame?
She worked at Spencer’s Retail and SAP.
Why did Richa Kar start Zivame?
She identified problems around privacy, choice and fit while researching the lingerie market through her work at SAP.
How much funding did Zivame raise?
Zivame raised more than $50 million across its major disclosed funding rounds.
When did Richa Kar step down as CEO?
She moved away from day-to-day operations in early 2017 and resigned as CEO later that year while continuing as a board member.
Is Zivame part of Reliance?
Yes. Reliance acquired a stake in Zivame in 2020.
What is Richa Kar’s net worth?
Her current net worth is not reliably publicly disclosed.
Sources
Fortune India, Richa Kar profile Fortune India
Economic Times, Richa Kar steps down as Zivame CEO Economic Times
NMIMS, Distinguished Alumni Profile NMIMS
Zivame, Press Center Zivame
Inc42, Zivame Funding and Financials Inc42
TechCrunch, Zivame Series C TechCrunch
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