[100 Emerging Women Leaders] This techie-turned-entrepreneur is building a nutritional startup for women

Ananya Agarwal has always been passionate about the intersection of technology, wellness, and design. Bringing research and development into the wellness space led her to start Nyumi, a nutritional startup. 

Her passion combined with the idea of using ancient remedies with Western ingredients, backed by scientific evidence, resulted in a holistic approach to women’s health. This is the foundation on which Nyumi has been built. 

Ananya is an engineer from Olin College of Engineering, Boston. She also holds an MBA degree from Harvard. Prior to launching Nyumi, she worked in the tech sector at companies such as Microsoft; her last stint was at a mental wellness company called Headspace.

Ananya launched Nyumi last year with five nutraceutical products in the gummy form to tackle the most prevalent women-centric issues—immunity, hair, skin, sleep, and urinary tract wellness. Nyumi, a play on the term ‘new me’, aims to convince women about the need to take these daily doses of goodness to transform into a “better and healthier version of themselves”. The brand’s products are formulated using a blend of Indian herbs such as haldi, amla, and tulsi with advanced Western nutrients such as biotin and hyaluronic acid.

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"More women are facing a host of health issues, ranging from PCOD to PCOS, and they are becoming aware of the need for supplementation and having that balance in their bodies,” says Ananya. “We set about building something that is actually enjoyable and helps women cultivate good habits.”

A team of German and Indian experts spent more than two years on R&D to discover a blend of Indian herbs and Western nutrients that could build vitamins that were not only effective but also pleasant in taste.

Nyumi has come up with a combination of products to match different parts of the woman’s life cycle and focus on women’s nutritional needs. Citing an example, Ananya says usually the alternative for those who suffer from recurrent UTIs is either cranberry juice that’s rich in sugar or a pill. To counter this, Nyumi offers them a gummy vitamin that keeps UTIs at bay, she says. 

Nyumi’s products are aimed at women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. Ananya says the products have been resonating with women across the board, even those in their 50s. They are manufactured at a factory in Puducherry in partnership with a German company. The products are priced between Rs 800 and Rs 1000. Apart from its own website, Nyumi’s products are also available on ecommerce platforms such as Amazon and Nykaa.

The brand’s marketing strategy hinges on social media content, paid advertising, influencer marketing, and word-of-mouth publicity. “Our differentiator comes from our R&D. I don’t think any other brand has focused on product development as we have, and that too across two countries. It’s not just the formulations, but we make sure that every ingredient we source is of the highest quality,” says Ananya.