Namaste Brown Girl,
Some of the biggest brown girl wins don't start with certainty. They start with someone taking a chance.
Quitting the "safe" job. Handing over the CEO title. Writing the first cheque. Backing a founder before the rest of the world catches on.
This week, we watched brown girls make bold moves instead of comfortable ones. We saw founders stepping into new chapters, investors doubling down on overlooked talent, and another brown girl building the future of AI with a $36M raise. Meanwhile, we welcomed another incredible founder to the Brown Girl Angels portfolio and sat down with two women who reminded us that the best companies are built by people obsessed with solving a problem, not chasing a title.
Turns out playing it safe has never been our thing. ๐ ๐ฝ
Welcome back to Brown Girls, Money Moves โ your bi-weekly download on who's raising, building, investing, scaling, and proving that the biggest opportunities usually begin where everyone else sees the biggest risk.
Here's what's inside:
๐ฅ Brown girls making bold moves (from CEO transitions to $36M AI raises)
๐๏ธ A new podcast episode on why the biggest risk might be playing it safe
๐ค Brown Girl Angels welcomes Lore to the portfolio
โ Chai, chaat, and our first London event
๐ฅญ Fresh gupshup for the group chat
Grab your chai. We've got some catching up to do. โ๏ธ
โ spicy money moves
๐
Brown girls are passing the CEO torch, landing national TV spots, making lists, and raising millions for the future of AI. Just your average week around here.
๐
๐ Building a company is one thing. Knowing when to hand it off is another. Brown girl beauty queen Deepica Mutyala is stepping down as CEO of Live Tinted, passing the reins to Sherry Jhawar after growing the brand from her garage to thousands of retail shelves.
๐ One injury. One idea. One of 120 women. Tanvi Gadamsetti, co-founder of BRCฤ, has been named a 2026 Tory Burch Foundation Entrepreneur after turning a career-ending sports injury into a company rethinking athletic shoelaces.
๐ Canada's next generation of business leaders has another brown girl on the list. Jaiya Varshney, co-founder of Tydra, has been named one of The Peak's 2026 Emerging Leaders.
๐บ Your morning TV lineup just got a little more Ayurvedic. Sister founders Shaz Rajashekar and Kiku Chaudhuri brought SHAZ & KIKS to Good Morning America, introducing millions of viewers to their science-backed approach to hair health.
๐ค The future of new materials is being built by AI, and a brown girl is helping lead the way. Apoha just emerged from stealth with $36M in funding to build AI models for discovering new materials, with co-founder and COO Anshika Srivastava helping turn cutting-edge research into the next generation of innovation.
We love celebrating brown girl wins โจย Got a recent win, milestone, or shoutout you want us to know about? Submit your win by filling out this form and let the BGA community hype you up. ๐ค
โ brown girls, money moves podcast
Season 1 of the Brown Girls, Money Moves podcast was honest, unfiltered, and unapologetically desi.
๐ถ๏ธ Season 2 is back with a new look, new guests, and the same spicy mission.
Episode 7 is for every brown girl who's ever wondered whether playing it safe is actually the riskiest move of all. ๐
Rathna Sharad walked away from Microsoft to build FlavorCloud, a company powering cross-border commerce for brands around the world. She's joined by early investor Mahati Sridhar of Revolution's Rise of the Rest to unpack what it really takes to build through uncertainty and bet on yourself before anyone else does.
Inside the episode:
โ Why Rathna fell in love with a problem most people never noticed, and built a company around solving it
โ How cross-border commerce went from industry niche to global headline, and why FlavorCloud was ready for the moment
โ What Mahati actually looks for before writing a check (hint: it's not the perfect pitch)
โ Why great companies don't have to be built in Silicon Valley
โ The mindset shift every founder needs to turn uncertainty into opportunity instead of waiting for the "right" time
Pour your chai and tune in to the full episode here.
โ bga portfolio news
๐ฃย Weโre thrilled to announce Brown Girl Angelsโ investment in Lore.
Founded by brown girl founder Zehra Naqvi, Lore is a search platform reimagining how we research and discover the internet obsessions we love - fan theories, cultural context, easter eggs, and all. As Zehra puts it, itโs their attempt to rebuild the Library of Alexandria for the fandom age. The early signal is already there, with high user engagement during their testing. People arenโt just trying Lore, theyโre spiralling into it!
At Brown Girl Angels, we back women building bold companies, challenging outdated systems, and reshaping what leadership, capital, and innovation can look like. Zehra is proving that consumer AI doesnโt have to be another doomscroll or dopamine machine - it can be quieter, more human, and built around passion and memory.
Hereโs to investing in brown girl founders building the world we actually want to live in. ๐ค
โจย Want to learn how to invest in brown girl founders like Zehra? Learn more about the BGA Collective and how weโre changing who gets to fund and who gets funded.
And while we have youโฆcheck out our recent BGMM podcast episode with Zehra.
โ chai and chaat
โ๏ธ Forget the panels. Forget the pitch decks. We recently had an incredible masterclass on evaluating AI startups over some chai and chaat!
In June, Brown Girl Angels teamed up with House of Arฤya for Chai & Chaat London โ our first event in England! The event was intimate by design. A community-first morning with South Asian women who are building, investing, or just starting to ask what a life in angel investing could look like.
๐คย The morning was a fireside chat between BGA founder, Bhargavi Varma and Rupa Popat, Founder & Managing Partner of Arฤya Ventures, who spoke on โHow to Evaluate AI Startups.โ
Rupa has built her career (and an award-winning fund) with over 65% of investments in AI application companies. During this conversation, Rupa broke down how capital is deployed for a room hungry to learn.
This is exactly why we we host these events - to increase access to the rooms and the people with this knowledge in our community.
๐ย Want to attend our next event? Make sure you follow us on social.
โgupshup
โ๏ธ Air Canada's newest first-class upgrade brought to you by ayurveda.
๐ฅญ Mango. Halwa. Soft serve. The sweetest summer collab.
๐ถ๏ธ The hot chai you didnโt see coming.
โspread the love
๐ผTake your seat at the table. See what weโre up to in 2026.
๐ฐ Your new home for brown girls building wealth, writing checks, and changing who gets funded and who gets to fund. Join our Substack.
๐๐พโโ๏ธWe love celebrating brown girl founders who are building bold, brilliant, and inspiring companies. Got something in the works or looking to raise soon? Weโd love to hear from you.
๐ซฑ๐ฝโ๐ซฒ๐พIf youโre looking to get your brand, product or service in front of a community of South Asian women who love to uplift, invest, and support each otherโthis is your sign. Reach out to learn more about our sponsored content opportunities
If you missed our poll last time, let us know now what youโre interested in!