Vani Kola, 

Kalaari capital has built a reputation by catching ventures and their founders early. Kola, a two-startup entrepreneur herself, returned from the U.S. in 2006, and started Kalaari (then Indo-US Venture Partners). She is one of its three managing directors. It invested in Myntra (2007), Snapdeal (January 2011), Zivame (2012), and Urban Ladder (2013). This year, when Flipkart acquired Myntra, she had some fun: Kola found herself as the only investor to have stakes in Flipkart, Myntra, and Snapdeal. “To see these companies grow, you first had to put the money in,” she says.