Goyal’s first interaction with startup industry leaders at the ceremony post removal of the so-called ‘Angel Tax’ is expected to provide insights into the government’s push to further support the new-age economy which has seen several companies go public this year. The minister, who rolled out Bharat Startup Knowledge Access Registry (BHASKAR) initiative to serve as a central hub where startups, investors, service providers and government bodies can come together to collaborate, exchange ideas and accelerate growth on Monday, is expected to update the who’s who of the startup world on the what tops the government’s agenda for the coming months.
Omnichannel eyewear retailer Lenskart bagged top honours as it was declared the Startup of the Year at a meeting in Bengaluru on September 11. The 10-member jury chose eight winners from a shortlist of 41 contenders after deliberating for over 2.5 hours. 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 while ClaimBuddy was adjudged the Best on Campus. 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.
Joining Nilekani at the milestone event were 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 cricketer Shubman Gill.
The Economic Times Startup Awards, launched in 2015, have chronicled this remarkable surge in entrepreneurial activity and recognised a slew of winners, ranging from ride-hailing app Ola to food delivery platforms Zomato and Swiggy, enterprise software maker Freshworks, hotel room aggregator Oyo, logistics provider Delhivery, fintech majors such as Zerodha and Razorpay, and business-to-business commerce firm OfBusiness, over the past nine editions.