Spanning five key categories (AI Innovator, GTM Excellence, Category Creator, Customer Experience Delight, and Bootstrapped Champion), the awards aim to recognise startups that are reshaping the ecosystem through genuine innovation and execution.
Take the Category Creator segment, which honours startups that have built something the market has never seen before. The category focuses on founders who are not simply competing in established industries but creating entirely new markets through disruptive products, services, or business models. These are startups identifying unmet needs, changing consumer behaviour, and setting new industry benchmarks before the wider ecosystem catches up.
In a cut-throat startup landscape, category creation requires far more than a strong product. It demands conviction, long-term thinking, and the ability to build demand where none previously existed. The award recognises ventures that have demonstrated originality, differentiation, and the potential to influence how industries evolve in the years ahead.
The awards are open to early-stage, digital-first startups in India. Eligible startups must be incorporated on or after April 1, 2020, with annual revenues of up to ₹10 crore, and should not be pre-revenue. The business must operate as an internet-first brand or platform where core transactions or engagement happen online and should be registered as a Private Limited Company or LLP in India. Founders can nominate their own startups, while investors, incubators, accelerators, and ecosystem enablers can also nominate deserving ventures.
Recognition under the Category Creator segment offers more than visibility. It provides startups with validation for unconventional ideas, helping them strengthen credibility with investors, attract strategic partnerships, and gain access to a wider innovation ecosystem.
What further strengthens the initiative is its evaluation process. Entries are assessed by industry architects, business leaders, and ecosystem experts who understand the complexities of building enduring companies in emerging sectors.
With entries now open, the One Of A Kind Startup Awards 2026 offers founders an opportunity to showcase ideas that are not just participating in markets but creating entirely new ones.
Nominations for the One Of A Kind Startup Awards 2026 are now open. to put yourself up for contention.