Unicorn Jodi: Asish Mohapatra From Odisha’s Cuttack & Ruchi Kalra Create History

Cuttack: Matches, they say, are made in heaven.

Ruchi Kalra and Cuttack’s Asish Mohapatra are one such successful couple, for whom sky is the limit.

They have become India’s first husband and wife whose startups have touched a valuation of $1 billion and above – known as unicorns.

Ruchi’s digital lending startup Oxyzo Financial Services on Wednesday reached the enviable milestone with its fundraising of $200 million led by Alpha Wave Global, Tiger Global Management, Norwest Venture Partners among others, NDTV reported.

Last year, Asish’s company OfBusiness became a unicorn thanks to backing from SoftBank Group Corp. and others.

Both 38-year-old Ruchi and 41-year-old Asish are CEOs of their respective companies. Significantly, both are profitable startups, which is rare for young growth companies.

Asish did his schooling from college from Cuttack – SCB Medical Public School and Ravenshaw College – before graduating from IIT-Kharagpur in Mechanical Engineering and doing his MBA from Indian School of Business.

He joined ITC Limited as Operations Manager before being recruited by McKinsey as Engagement Manager.

It was at McKinsey that Asish met fellow-IIT alumni Ruchi.

Ruchi and Asish, along with three others, founded Oxyzo in 2017 as an offshoot of the couple’s first startup, OfBusiness, which they started with three others in early 2016.

OfBusiness, known as OFB Tech Pvt., supplies raw materials like steel, diesel, foodgrains and industrial chemicals to small and medium-sized businesses.

Ruchi was a partner at McKinsey, but left the firm to join forces with her husband.

Though the two Gurgaon-based companies run separately with different offices and teams, they target the same industries like manufacturing and infrastructure sub-contracting, Ruchi informed.