India does not have a shortage of wellness products. There are skincare brands, nutrition companies, fitness platforms, supplements, activewear labels and thousands of creators talking about healthier living every day. But more choice does not always make things easier. For many women, discovering the right product or wellness solution still means moving between different platforms, recommendations, experts and social media pages.

The problem is not a lack of options. It is knowing which options to trust.

That is the gap Kashika Malhotra wanted to address. At 22, she started building Yoginii, a women-first wellness marketplace designed around the way women actually experience wellness. Instead of becoming another platform with an endless catalogue, Yoginii focuses on curated discovery, content, community and products built around women's needs. The idea is simple: make wellness easier to understand, discover and access.

The Indian wellness market has expanded rapidly. Consumers are increasingly interested in nutrition, fitness, skincare, mental wellbeing, self-care and healthier lifestyles. At the same time, a new generation of D2C brands has entered the market with products designed around specific needs.

Yet the customer journey remains fragmented. One platform might be good for skincare, another for supplements, another for activewear and another for wellness content. The consumer is left to connect the dots.

Yoginii is attempting to become that connecting layer. Its platform brings together different areas of women's wellness, including Mind, Body, Nourish, Routine, Work + Self and Beauty. The objective is not simply to sell products. It is to make discovery more intentional.

One of Kashika's most important decisions was defining who Yoginii was built for. She could have created a broad wellness marketplace targeting everyone. Instead, she chose women.

That focus gives Yoginii a much clearer identity. The platform can curate products around women's specific needs, create content around relevant concerns, collaborate with women-focused brands and build a community around shared experiences. The customer is not an afterthought to the marketplace. The customer is the centre of it.

Kashika's background offers a glimpse into how Yoginii came together. She studied at the University of St Andrews and was involved in several student organisations and initiatives spanning writing, marketing, entrepreneurship and community building. Her experience included roles such as Features Editor at The Stand, Assistant Head of Marketing at The Guild and Marketing Head at Enactus.

Those experiences matter because Yoginii is not simply an e-commerce storefront. It sits at the intersection of commerce, content, community and discovery.

Kashika began building the company at an age when most people are still figuring out their own careers. She did not have decades of industry experience behind her. What she did have was a clear observation about a market she believed could be better.

Looking at Yoginii only as an online store misses the larger opportunity. The platform combines commerce with educational content, brand discovery and community. Its website covers different dimensions of wellness, while its content explores topics across nutrition, skincare, fitness, self-care and everyday wellbeing. The marketplace also features products from brands across categories including nutrition, skincare and activewear.

This creates a different proposition. Yoginii does not need to manufacture every product itself. It can create value by helping customers discover the right products, which makes curation an important part of the business.

Yoginii is also solving a problem for brands. India's wellness ecosystem has seen an explosion of smaller brands, but building a good product is only one part of building a successful business. Brands also need discovery, credibility, distribution, content and community.

Yoginii aims to provide that ecosystem. The company has said it evaluates brands based on factors such as product quality, ethical practices, ingredient transparency and relevance to women's needs. It also works with brands through storytelling, community engagement and collaborative campaigns.

A traditional marketplace gives a brand another digital shelf. Yoginii is trying to give brands context. And context becomes valuable when consumers are overwhelmed by choice.

In 2026, Yoginii announced plans to onboard more than 100 curated wellness brands over the following year. The company has already worked with women-focused brands across nutrition, wellness and lifestyle.

But the important word is curated. A marketplace with 100 brands is not necessarily difficult to build. Building a marketplace where customers trust why those 100 brands were selected is much harder, and it becomes even more challenging as the platform grows.

The question for Yoginii is whether it can maintain the same level of trust and relevance as its catalogue expands. If it can, curation itself could become part of the company's competitive advantage.

There is an obvious challenge. Why would consumers use another marketplace when platforms such as Amazon and Nykaa already offer enormous selection and convenience?

Yoginii cannot realistically win by trying to outspend larger platforms. It has to win by being more relevant. Its opportunity lies in building a focused ecosystem around women rather than competing on catalogue size. Amazon can offer almost everything. Nykaa has built strong authority in beauty. Yoginii is attempting to own a narrower space: women's wellness discovery.

That focus could become its advantage.

The bigger ambition appears to extend beyond selling products. Kashika has spoken about developing Yoginii into a broader wellness platform, including more personalised solutions for women.

That direction makes the business more interesting. Products can become commoditised. A protein bar can be replaced by another protein bar, and a skincare product can be replaced by another skincare product. But a platform that understands what a particular customer needs can build a much deeper relationship.

The question changes from "What should I buy?" to "What is right for me?" That is a much bigger problem to solve.

Wellness is a difficult category because it is constantly changing. Every week brings a new supplement, ingredient, workout, diet or wellness trend. Consumers are increasingly exposed to information, but information does not always lead to better decisions. Sometimes it creates confusion.

For Yoginii, trust therefore becomes central to the proposition. The platform's content focuses on realistic wellness, informed choices and sustainable routines rather than presenting wellness as a perfect lifestyle. If Yoginii wants to become a trusted destination, its content cannot simply become advertising disguised as education. Every recommendation has to strengthen the relationship with the customer.

Yoginii also wants to build more than a customer base. The company positions itself as a community for women interested in mindful and balanced living.

That creates an important connection between content and commerce. A woman discovers an idea, learns something, finds a product and tries it. Then she returns for more content and eventually becomes part of the community. That loop could be more valuable than a simple transactional marketplace.

At first glance, Yoginii looks like another wellness marketplace. But the more interesting interpretation is different. Kashika is trying to build the discovery layer for women's wellness. Products are one layer. Content is another. Brands are another. Community is another. Personalisation could become another. And connecting all of them is trust.

That is also what makes building the company at 22 both exciting and difficult. Yoginii is entering a market where larger companies already have distribution, capital and customer attention. But it does not need to become the biggest marketplace overnight. It needs to become useful enough that a particular customer starts thinking: "If it's on Yoginii, I trust that it belongs here."

That is much harder to build than a large catalogue. It can also be much more valuable.

Yoginii is still early. Its next chapter will be about proving that women will repeatedly choose a curated wellness ecosystem over the convenience of larger platforms. The expansion of its brand network will test its curation. The marketplace will test its economics. The content will test its ability to earn attention. The community will test whether customers return. Personalisation will test whether Yoginii can turn discovery into a deeper relationship.

There are no guarantees. But that is what makes the story worth watching. Kashika is not simply trying to create another wellness store. She is betting that in a market overwhelmed by choices, better discovery itself can become the product.

Kashika Malhotra's most interesting decision was not starting a wellness company at 22. It was choosing exactly who the company was for.

Yoginii did not begin with the question, "How do we sell more wellness products?" It began with a sharper question: "Why is it still so difficult for women to discover wellness solutions they can actually trust?"

That distinction changes the business.

The opportunity ahead is significant, but so is the challenge. Yoginii will have to maintain its curation as it scales, build repeat behaviour, prove marketplace economics and differentiate itself from much larger platforms. But if it succeeds, Yoginii could become more than another place to shop. It could become the place Indian women go to figure out what wellness means for them.

And for a founder who started building that vision at 22, that is an ambitious place to begin.