Building a Bootstrapped Brand That Ships to 36+ Countries: The Story of Satwik & Mohi Fashion
Satwik Chinta is the founder of Mohi Fashion, a marketplace for Indian apparel that has grown from a small bootstrapped idea to a global customer base. Read his founder story here!
At Razorpay Rize, we’re excited to introduce Satwik Chinta- a founder whose journey is anything but the usual straight line. He started as a computer science engineer, moved into animation and design, and eventually ended up building a fashion startup, Mohi Fashion, which ships Indian apparel to over 36 countries.
I’m Satwik Chinta, a computer science engineer who accidentally took the scenic route in life.
I started my career working in animation and visual effects- the kind you see in films like Spiderman and Avengers. I went abroad to pursue my master’s in design, fully convinced that the next logical step was to land a great job and settle down.
But life never sticks to the script.
Where It All Began
Somewhere between design school, side projects, and late-night brainstorming sessions, I met the right people- people who would later become my team. At the same time, I already had two startup experiences behind me- one in Indian ethnic rentals and another in matchmaking tech. Both taught me the reality of building: the joy, the burnout, the failed experiments, the tiny wins that keep you alive.
And instead of taking the “stable job” route, I came back to India in 2018 to build again.
Then the pandemic hit. My family was unwell, the world was uncertain, and suddenly the idea of stability changed for me. I decided to stay in India and focus entirely on entrepreneurship.
That’s where the idea of Mohi Fashion began to take shape- not from a pitch deck, but from real experience, real data, and fundamental gaps we had seen in the apparel ecosystem. Having worked in ethnic rentals, we understood the demand, supply, and inconsistencies in quality. It felt like an evolution of everything we had built and learned before.
Differentiating Mohi in a Competitive Market
We bootstrapped Mohi from day one. Every rupee mattered, every decision mattered, and every assumption had to be validated through data. Fashion is a brutally competitive industry- new brands emerge every single day. What we noticed was that most were either overpriced or underpriced, and authenticity was missing. We wanted to fix that.
Our focus became simple: if a product looks a certain way on the website, it should look exactly the same when a customer receives it. We involved ourselves in every step of the process- sourcing, quality checks, packaging- to make sure we delivered what we promised.
Over time, Mohi grew in ways we didn’t expect. What we imagined as a small marketplace turned into a platform with thousands of SKUs from across India- from Assam’s handlooms to Kerala’s traditional weaves.
The part that still surprises me is our global reach: we’ve shipped to more than 36 countries, and 2025 has been our biggest year for exports so far. It feels surreal to think that pieces of Indian craftsmanship are travelling across the world because of something we built.
The Heart and Hands Behind Mohi
One of the things I’m proudest of is our team. Mohi is primarily run by women, and that has shaped the brand in ways I sincerely appreciate. The attention to detail, the questioning, the precision- it has made Mohi sharper and more thoughtful. Working with them has been an enormous learning experience for me.
Of course, the journey hasn’t just been about growth. Startup life is a rollercoaster. Some days are incredible, and we celebrate with ice creams or biryanis. Some days are tough- days when impostor syndrome hits hard or motivation dips. On those days, my team brings me back to the “why” behind everything. They remind me why we started and who we are building for.
Advice for Founders
If there’s one thing I’ve learned and would tell any founder, it’s this: Build with data.
Gut can spark the first idea, but data is what keeps that idea alive when reality hits. Data keeps you honest- it cuts through assumptions, excitement, creativity, and even ego. It shows you what your customers actually want, not what you think they want.
For Mohi, data shaped everything- from how we sourced, to what we stocked, to where we shipped.
If not this, then…
Honestly, I’d have gone back to design or animation- the world where I started, the world that still feels like a quiet creative escape for me. In another timeline, I can easily imagine myself living a slower, simpler life, working on visuals and creating art, while staying far away from the constant fires and adrenaline rushes that come with entrepreneurship.
But somewhere along the way, I realised that there’s something strangely addictive about this chaos.
So here I am- building Mohi Fashion with everything I’ve got, learning every single day. Failing sometimes and winning sometimes. At times, I even question myself, yet I believe in the vision of others. But always, always moving forward.
We’re big fans of founders like Satwik Chinta here at Razorpay Rize. He’s the kind of builder who didn’t follow the “usual” route, and honestly, that’s what makes his story so refreshing. Satwik’s journey has been full of twists: from engineering to animation, design, and now a bootstrapped fashion brand.
Yet what stands out most is how grounded he remains. He credits his team, he learns from every hard day, and he builds with honesty.
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