In this milestone year for ETSA–which has chronicled the ebb and flow of India’s startup ecosystem over the last decade–this year’s jury chair, Infosys cofounder and chairman Nandan Nilekani, will hold a discussion with 2018 Midas Touch award winner Subrata Mitra, partner at Accel, this year’s Startup of the Year winner Lenskart’s cofounder and CEO Peyush Bansal and nominee Zepto’s cofounder and CEO Aadit Palicha.
ETtechAadit Palicha, Peyush Bansal and Subrata Mitra
Nilekani, a digital public infrastructure (DPI) evangelist, will delve into the past decade of India’s tech and startup ecosystem and look ahead at what’s in store for the new economy amid groundbreaking technological innovations and the maturing of the country’s startup ecosystem.
This includes the rising trend of initial public offerings (IPOs) by startups, the mushrooming of companies founded by second-time entrepreneurs and seasoned executives from tech firms, and the evolution of the venture capital industry.
The other big speaker will be 2021 Startup of the Year winner Zomato’s founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal, who will talk about the company’s journey from a scrappy online restaurant listing startup to a $30 billion corporation engaged in food delivery, quick commerce and entertainment ticketing. Zomato had won the award in the year of its bumper initial public offering (IPO).
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Ashwini Vaishnaw, union minister for railways, information and broadcasting, electronics and IT, will be the guest of honour at the ceremony in Bengaluru, which will be attended by who’s who of the Indian startup ecosystem.For the 2024 edition of ETSA–in addition to Lenskart–the 10-member jury chose winners from a shortlist of 41 contenders after deliberating for over 2.5 hours on September 11.
Nilekani was joined by Mithun Sacheti, founder, CaratLane; Nyrika Holkar, executive director, Godrej & Boyce; Ritesh Arora, cofounder and CEO, Browserstack; Albinder Dhindsa, CEO, Blinkit; Sumer Juneja, managing partner and head, India & EMEA, SoftBank; Nikhil Kamath, cofounder, Zerodha; Nandita Sinha, CEO, Myntra; Prativa Mohapatra, MD, Adobe India; and Indian cricketer Shubman Gill, on this year’s jury.
Mukul Arora, co-managing partner at Elevation Capital, was chosen winner of the coveted Midas Touch award for best investor, while the award for the Bootstrap Champ went to Boult, which sells earphones and smartwatches.
The prize for Top Innovator went to Bengaluru-based BrainSight AI, which is building tools for neurosurgeons and psychiatrists to detect mental health symptoms faster and better, while Geetansh Bamania—founder of furniture and electronics rental startup Rentomojo—was chosen as the winner in the Comeback Kid category.
Insurtech startup ClaimBuddy was adjudged the Best on Campus, and Hardika Shah, founder of Kinara Capital—a non-banking financial company (NBFC) that lends to small enterprises with a special focus on women business owners—was the winner in the Woman Ahead category.
Haqdarshak, which helps people access the government’s social security services, won in the Social Enterprise category.