domlur: ET Startup Awards 2023 | Corporate India has Davos, now startups have Domlur

Growth vs profitability, valuations, execution strategies — founders and VCs might be divided about all of this but as Saturday night drew to a close, there was unanimity about one thing: for the Indian startup ecosystem, there is no other event that comes close to The Economic Times Startup Awards (ETSA).

From Union Minister for Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal — who remarked that the awards are now part of his annual calendar — to entrepreneurs and investors who flew in from different parts of the country and abroad, everyone agreed that this was one event you couldn’t afford to miss.

Also read | ET Startup Awards 2023: Profitability the ‘biz’word for Indian startups now

“To me, the ET Startup Awards has attained strong network effects. Everyone is there because everyone else is there,” said Ritesh Banglani, cofounder, Stellaris Venture Partners. He confessed that “as a natural introvert and homebody”, he thinks about skipping the awards every year. “But the FOMO (fear of missing out) on the biggest startup gathering of the year drags me out of home every time,” Banglani said.

Myntra chief executive Nandita Sinha concurred: “I don’t see such a diverse bunch of leaders from across the ecosystem show up anywhere else.”

“There is no comparable event for the ecosystem. It’s the only one that VCs from Singapore, etc., fly down for and then fly out,” said Siddharth Pai, founding partner, 3one4 Capital. That, he says, is what prompted him to quip, “India Inc has Davos, we have Domlur” (the location of the Leela Palace, where the event took place).

For many, the awards were a celebration of the ecosystem. “It’s an incredible event and highlights the role startups play in India’s growth story,” said Jishnu Bhattacharjee, managing director, Nexus Venture Partners, who had flown down from the US to receive the Midas Touch Award, with his parents joining him from Agartala for the milestone.Harshil Mathur, cofounder of Razorpay and a panellist at this edition, felt the awards were also a reminder of the optimism of the sector which sometimes gets drowned out. “You can really feel the energy and optimism when you come here.” The chatter at the gathering was a reflection of the change of gear in the ecosystem, too, he added.

“The maturity of the ecosystem is truly on display today… there is no conversation around valuations, only around profitability and listing.”

From left: Kunal Shah, founder, Cred; Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart Group; Sujeet Kumar, founder, Udaan

Age no bar

The high-powered panel discussion and conversations with ministers apart, the other favourite talking point was instant grocery delivery startup Zepto cofounder Aadit Palicha’s age. Asked to officially clarify this important bone of contention on stage, Palicha said he turned 21 years just weeks ago, evoking loud — and possibly incredulous — applause. Off-stage, asked what he felt about often being the youngest at events like these, he said “I’ve forgotten about it,” though evidently nobody else has.

Palicha was not the only to get roasted in the course of the evening. Cred founder Kunal Shah had to answer how his startup makes money (Shah: “That question will remain forever but it keeps us in the news”), investor couple Meena and K Ganesh were asked how VCs romance (“There is no romance among VCs!” was Meena’s take) and minister of state for IT and Electronics Rajeev Chandrasekhar was cornered about his home city becoming the target of comedian Trevor Noah, who was recently being forced to abort his show (“This is my city, my home, I love it a lot. But successive governments have been unjust,” he said.)

But on Saturday evening, whatever the roadblocks in Bengaluru — literal or metaphoric — nothing could keep founders, investors and decision-makers from making a beeline for the ET Startup Awards. Or, as Pai put it, the Davos of India’s startup ecosystem.

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