ETSA 2026: Jury to pick winners today; SoftBank trims Lenskart stake

The day has arrived! The elite jury of The Economic Times Startup Awards 2026 will convene in Bengaluru today to select the brightest stars in India’s startup galaxy. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.

Also in the letter:
■ Infosys bonus dip
■ TCS lands Porsche deal
■ Third Wave’s fresh brew

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Today, an distinguished panel, led by Wipro’s Rishad Premji, will enter the jury room to pick the winners of the 12th edition of The Economic Times Startup Awards, the country's most treasured recognition for entrepreneurial excellence. The star-studded jury comprises:

• Rishad Premji (Jury Chair) — Executive Chairman, Wipro
• Vijay Shekhar Sharma — Founder & CEO, Paytm
• Mukesh Bansal — Cofounder, Myntra, Curefit
• Sachin Bansal — Cofounder, Flipkart, Navi
• 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, Lossfunk
• Abhiraj Singh Bhal — Cofounder & CEO, Urban Company
• Aryaman Vikram Birla — Director, Aditya Birla Group

Setting context: In a dozen years, ETSA has put itself on a pedestal as the most insightful spotlight on the new-age industry.

Be it a Gen Z brainwave or the hard-earned accomplishments built on one’s own devices, social inventions, genius investors, unstoppable women and entrepreneurs who just won’t give up — a curated few find themselves on the ETSA shortlist. The most precious of the lot remains the Startup of the Year award.

Watch out for ET’s full coverage of the jury’s decisions on X (@ETtech), LinkedIn (ETtech) and Instagram (ettech_news)

Over the past few days, we announced the nominees for our eight categories. Find the shortlisted names for each accolade below:

• Startup of the Year
• Midas Touch
• Bootstrap Champ
• Top Innovator
• Best on Campus
• Comeback Kid
• Women Ahead
• Social Enterprise

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SoftBank sells Lenskart shares worth Rs 2,888 crore, aggregate returns at 5.7x

Peyush Bansal, CEO, Lenskart

SoftBank has sold about Rs 2,888 crore ($300 million) worth of shares in eyewear retailer Lenskart through a block deal on Monday.

What’s happening?

• SoftBank sold 4.5 crore shares, or about 2.6% of Lenskart, at Rs 641.75 each.
• Its stake will drop to around 7.3%, from 9.86% at the end of the June quarter.
• The sale takes SoftBank’s returns on Lenskart to 5.7 times.

Yes, and?

• This is SoftBank’s second major Lenskart block sale since the six-month lock-in for pre-IPO investors ended in May.
• In June, it sold a 3.25% stake for Rs 2,873 crore at Rs 508.55 a share.
• It had earlier sold Rs 1,026 crore worth of shares through Lenskart’s November 2025 IPO.

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Y Combinator pockets Rs 970 crore from Meesho stake sale

Vidit Aatrey, CEO, Meesho

Y Combinator has cashed out nearly Rs 970 crore from Meesho through a block deal, adding to a string of large exits from its India portfolio after last week’s Rs 1,435-crore Groww sale.

YC’s India cash-out

• YC sold 4.85 crore Meesho shares at Rs 200.01 apiece. Including its IPO offer-for-sale, it has now realised around Rs 1,050 crore from Meesho. On a tranche acquired at Rs 1.02 per share, Monday’s sale implies a gross return of about 196 times.
• Meesho has also seen Fidelity, Elevation Capital and Peak XV monetise holdings after listing, making it one of the busiest block-deal counters among recently listed startups.

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Infosys Q1 bonus payout averages 70%, down 10 percentage points from a year ago

Salil Parekh, CEO, Infosys

Infosys has paid an average performance bonus of 70% to eligible employees for the April-June quarter, 10 percentage points lower than a year earlier, people familiar with the matter told us.

By the numbers:

• Payouts ranged from 65% to 80% based on job level and performance.
• Employees at job levels (JL) 4 and 5 received slightly higher payouts than JL6.
• Outstanding performers at JL4 and JL5 received 80% and 78%, respectively.
• A separate “non-applicable” category also received payouts.

Tell me more: Employees are also awaiting clarity on annual salary hikes. Infosys is understood to be considering a two-phase rollout, with JL4 and JL5 employees likely to receive hikes in the next one to two months, followed by JL6 and above in January 2027.

The payout comes as the sector faces slower discretionary spending, economic uncertainty and disruption from rapid advances in artificial intelligence. The previous quarter also saw a 70% payout after strong business performance and deal wins.

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Other Top Stories By Our Reporters

L-R: TCS CEO K Krithivasan and Porsche CEO Dr. Michael Leiters

TCS’ $1.4 billion deal with Porsche AG: India’s largest IT services provider, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), signed a five-year deal with Porsche AG valued at €1.25 billion ($1.45 billion) and acquired the German automaker’s IT arm, MHP, for €320 million ($373.4 million) in an all-cash transaction.

Third Wave Coffee raises Rs 408 crore: Third Wave Coffee has raised Rs 408 crore ($43 million) in a funding round led by existing investor WestBridge Capital, as it looks to step up a store expansion drive amid intensifying competition in the premium cafe market.

Healthify merges with Berry Street: Bengaluru-based Healthify has merged with US nutrition care company Berry Street in an all-stock deal, combining the former’s AI-led health platform with Berry Street’s insurance-backed clinical care network as they look to deepen their presence in the US and expand to international markets.

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Global Picks We Are Reading

■ They dedicated their lives to teaching. Then the deepfakes started (Wired)

■ The UAE is fighting AI hackers with AI of its own (Rest of World)

■Kids outlearn AI—and we still don’t know why (MIT Technology Review)