From Ground-Level Sales to Steering a Lab-Grown Diamond Expansion: How Ricky Vasandani Bet Early on a Market Shift

Before becoming CEO and co-founder of Solitario, Ricky Vasandani spent his early years in the family business, Satguru Sparkles, selling natural diamonds directly to customers. The experience offered a practical view of the diamond trade—how demand behaves, how margins move, and how dependent the industry is on global supply.

That dependence was tested when the Russia–Ukraine conflict disrupted natural diamond availability worldwide. Most businesses responded with short-term adjustments. Ricky saw a deeper shift. Lab-grown diamonds were gaining traction in developed markets, and India, despite its role as a global polishing hub, was not building consumer-facing brands in the space. The gap was obvious; the question was who would move first.

Ricky decided to take the risk. He raised USD 2 million in one call and set up Solitario with a clear proposition: an Indian brand operating entirely in lab-grown diamonds, built for both domestic and international markets. In the initial phase, he ran every function himself—not out of narrative drama, but because the category required close, real-time understanding of customer hesitation, pricing perception, and product awareness. Early feedback shaped Solitario’s distribution approach and clarified where education was needed in a market still unfamiliar with lab-grown products.

The company added a strategic advantage when actor and entrepreneur Vivek Oberoi joined as co-founder. His network helped Solitario enter regions where lab-grown diamonds were scaling faster, giving the company early access to more mature demand cycles.

Solitario today operates across seven countries with more than 100 points of sale globally and over 40 touchpoints in India. With a team of 250+, the company is focused on expanding distribution and shaping a category that is still evolving in India.

Ricky’s trajectory is less about a dramatic personal rise and more about recognising a structural market opening at the right time. As the global diamond industry undergoes one of its biggest transitions in decades, his early bet on lab-grown diamonds positions Solitario as part of that shift rather than reacting to it afterward.