India’s startup story will take centre stage in Bengaluru on Friday, as founders, investors and technology leaders gather to honour the winners of the 12th edition of The Economic Times Startup Awards (ETSA).

Union minister for commerce and industry Piyush Goyal will be the guest of honour at the event, which will bring together a strong mix of past and present ETSA winners and nominees, alongside leading voices from India’s new-economy landscape. Goyal is expected to speak about the government’s efforts to deepen and expand the country’s emerging business ecosystem.

As once-fledgling startups increasingly make the transition to publicly listed companies, Groww cofounder and CEO Lalit Keshre and Meesho cofounder and CEO Vidit Aatrey will reflect on their journeys from young upstarts to the leaders of multi-billion-dollar enterprises.

Wealthtech platform Groww, winner of the coveted Startup of the Year award at this year’s ETSA, listed on the bourses in November 2025 and currently commands a market capitalisation of about $12.5 billion. Ecommerce marketplace Meesho followed with its public market debut in December 2025, and now has a market value of more than $10 billion.

Over the past decade, ETSA has chronicled the highs and lows of India’s entrepreneurial journey, recognising the resilience, innovation and ambition that have shaped the ecosystem.

As the startup landscape enters a new phase, entrepreneurs are increasingly turning their attention to deeptech and physical hardware, taking on challenges that demand longer gestation periods and significant technological breakthroughs. At this year’s awards event, Accel founding partner Prashanth Prakash will discuss India’s hard-tech ambitions with Kshitij Khandelwal, cofounder and CTO of spacetech startup Pixxel; Laina Emmanuel, cofounder and CEO of BrainSight AI; and Dheemanth Nagaraj, cofounder and CEO of AI semiconductor startup Agrani Labs.

Since its inception, ETSA has grown into one of the country’s most closely watched platforms for recognising entrepreneurial talent and ambition. The 2026 edition happens at a time when India’s startup ecosystem stands at an inflection point, with AI reshaping businesses at unprecedented speed, global alliances and supply chains being redrawn, and founders facing a more demanding environment where sustainable growth and efficient use of capital matter as much as scale.

In this backdrop, an elite jury chaired by Wipro executive chairman Rishad Premji chose winners across eight categories after deliberating for more than three hours on August 25. Other members of the jury were Sachin Bansal, cofounder, Flipkart and Navi; Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO, Paytm; Mukesh Bansal, cofounder, Myntra and Curefit; Mithun Sacheti, cofounder, CaratLane; Nandita Sinha, CEO, Swiggy Instamart; Ajit Mohan, chief business officer, Snap Inc; Irina Ghose, MD, Anthropic India; Paras Chopra, founder, Wingify and Lossfunk; Abhiraj Singh Bhal, cofounder and CEO, Urban Company; and Aryaman Vikram Birla, director, Aditya Birla Group.

Bengaluru-based Groww was picked as the Startup of the Year for its ability to continue growing rapidly while maintaining healthy profitability.

Manu Chandra, founder and managing partner at Sauce VC, is the winner of the Midas Touch award for being a distinguished early-stage consumer-focused investor.

Online yoga platform Habuild is Bootstrap Champ, while climatetech startup Varaha clinched the Social Enterprise award.

The Woman Ahead category saw a joint winner for the first time, with the jury picking Pallavi Mohadikar, cofounder and CEO, Palmonas and Progcap cofounder and CEO Pallavi Shrivastava for the award.

Deeptech startup Theranautilus was adjudged the winner in the Top Innovator category. Armatrix is the Best on Campus startup, while vibe coding startup Emergent cofounder Mukund Jha is the Comeback Kid.