High-powered ET Startup Awards jury to pick winners on October 28

The ten-member jury that will meet virtually includes Sanjeev Bikhchandani, cofounder, Info Edge; Shailendra Singh, managing director, Sequoia India & Southeast Asia; Arundhati Bhattacharya, CEO, Salesforce India; Sriharsha Majety, cofounder & CEO, Swiggy; Girish Mathrubootham, founder & CEO, Freshworks; Satyan Gajwani, vice chairman, Times Internet; Hemant Taneja, managing director, General Catalyst; Lizzie Chapman, cofounder & CEO, ZestMoney; and Sahil Barua, cofounder & CEO, Delhivery.

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ET Startup Awards 2022: Jury looks for an upstart that can go the distance

This year ET will introduce a new award category, CEO of the Year, in recognition of the deepening maturity of India’s startup ecosystem — ranked among the top three worldwide. The winner — either a founder or a professional executive helming a high-growth venture — should have demonstrated strategic decision making and execution skills as well as leadership traits needed to steer fast-growing ventures.

Tackling Hurdles


As Indian startups gain scale and maturity, they are seeking experienced professionals to steer the next phase of growth. This newly instituted award aims to recognise such rising talent.

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The ETSA jury is meeting at a time when the global startup and technology ecosystem is being roiled by months of economic and geopolitical uncertainty. The volatility in valuations of publicly listed companies, which began in the US late last year, is spilling over into the private markets.

Nominees for Comeback Kid

Indian startups have seen the impact of the turbulence and subsequent skittish investor interest with funding having dried up in the previous six months, more so for late-stage startups. Data from venture intelligence reveals that venture funding for startups fell to $2.7 billion for the September quarter this year compared with nearly $12 billion during the same period in 2021.

To be sure, the large-scale slowdown in 2022 comes on the back of a phenomenal year of growth recorded by venture-backed companies that scooped up record-breaking investments and marked the start of public listings by Indian internet startups through 2021.

Nominees for Top Innovator

Zomato, which was the first to go public last year,
bagged the coveted ET Startup of the Year award for 2021. It paved the way for others like Nykaa, Paytm, and Policybazaar to also tap the IPO route.

This year, with the pendulum moving away from chasing growth at all cost to profitability, unit economics and gross margins, the jury will look for businesses that have thrived during this tough phase.

Starting today, ET will unveil the contenders who have made it to the shortlist. We will begin with the Bootstrap Champ — those entrepreneurs who have built a startup without outside funding —and Top Innovators, startups with an original idea that has set them apart from competition, as well as Comeback Kid — founders who have made a successful comeback.

Nominees for Bootstrap Champ

We will also recognise students who have founded companies while they were on campus, women entrepreneurs, social enterprises that combine profits and the public good, and investors with a Midas touch.

ET reached out to more than 150 of the country’s top entrepreneurs, investors, industry groups and other stakeholders to compile a list of India’s brightest entrepreneurial talent. This was then distilled by the paper’s editorial team to arrive at the final shortlist. Tracxn was the ETSA knowledge partner.