Kashika Malhotra on Building Yoginii, a Trusted Women’s Wellness Marketplace
📝Interviews
Kashika Malhotra is the founder and CEO of Yoginii, a platform created to simplify how women discover trusted health and wellness solutions. In this interview, she shares the inspiration behind building a curated wellness marketplace, the importance of women-led innovation in the wellness industry, and how Yoginii aims to build trust and mindful consumption in India’s growing women’s health ecosystem.
StartupTalky: What inspired you to create Yoginii?
Kashika Malhotra: Yoginii was born from a simple but powerful observation: women are constantly managing everyone else’s needs, yet when it comes to their own health and wellness, the ecosystem is fragmented and overwhelming. Women were trying to navigate wellness on their own. There were products, services, experts, and information everywhere, but no single space that felt curated, trustworthy, and built specifically around women’s realities. So, I wanted to create a marketplace that simplifies access and builds confidence in decision-making. Yoginii is not about selling more; it’s about helping women choose better.
StartupTalky: How is Yoginii positioning itself in the evolving women’s wellness landscape?
Kashika Malhotra: As the first women's wellness marketplace, our job is to curate, not crowd. We care more about credibility, alignment, and relevance than volume. Yoginii wants to be known as a safe, trusted place for women to find wellness solutions without feeling rushed or overwhelmed.
StartupTalky: How has your belief that “when women build for women, industries transform” shaped Yoginii?
Kashika Malhotra: We look at everything from a woman's point of view and ask if it really helps women's physical, mental, and emotional health. We care about both representation and being able to relate. The ecosystem becomes more caring and purposeful when women are in charge of the curation process.
StartupTalky: Why are women-led businesses shaping mindful consumption in India?
Kashika Malhotra: Women who start businesses often do so based on their own experiences. Women entrepreneurs in India are not only questioning what is being sold, but also how and why it is being used. That change is making people more aware and informed about their purchases, especially in the area of health and wellness.
StartupTalky: What challenges have you faced building a wellness marketplace?
Kashika Malhotra: One of the biggest challenges has been building trust in a crowded digital environment. For a marketplace to work, both consumers and partners need to trust each other. Another thing that needs to be balanced all the time is scaling while keeping quality curation. The key has been to be patient and put building a community for the long term ahead of growing quickly.
StartupTalky: How does Yoginii integrate conscious leadership while maintaining growth?
Kashika Malhotra: For us, conscious leadership means making partnerships on purpose and growing in a responsible way. We don't want to be the biggest marketplace; we want to be the most trusted. I believe, when trust is high, profits come naturally.
StartupTalky: What advice would you give aspiring women entrepreneurs?
Kashika Malhotra: One advice I would like to give to aspiring women entrepreneur is to begin with a clear goal. Make something that really fixes a problem you know a lot about. Don't rush to get bigger; build trust first. And most importantly, surround yourself with people who push you and help you. Businesses that are driven by a purpose take time to build, but when they are built with honesty, they make a difference that lasts.
Sakshi Jadhav