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Winners of The ET Startup Awards 2026 to be feted today
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Happy Friday! The who's who of the startup ecosystem will come together in Bengaluru today to honour the winners of The Economic Times Startup Awards (ETSA) 2026.
Also in the letter:
■ AWS ventures chief on AI
■ Layoffs at Amazon India
■ DailyObjects raises funds
It's D-day! Top entrepreneurs, policymakers, and investors will come together in Bengaluru today to honour the stars of Indian entrepreneurship at the twelfth edition of ETSA 2026.
What’s happening: Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal will be the guest of honour at ETSA 2026, presenting the country’s most coveted awards for entrepreneurial excellence to the winners.
Goyal is expected to speak about the government’s efforts to deepen and expand the country’s emerging business ecosystem.
Speakers: 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.
Also, 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.
Meet the winners: The high-powered jury led by Wipro chairman Rishad Premji tasked with choosing the winners of ETSA 2026 met in Bengaluru in August to pick the winners across eight categories. They are:
IT services major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Thursdayreported a 15% on-year growth in consolidated net profit in the second quarter of FY27.
Financials:
Deal details:
.jpg "Jason Bennett, Vice President and Global Head of Startups and Venture Capital at Amazon Web Services (AWS)")
Jason Bennett, vice president and global head of startups and venture capital at Amazon Web Services
Artificial intelligence (AI) is lowering barriers to building companies and is likely to fuel another wave of startup creation over the next two years, as founders build products faster and operate with smaller teams, according to Jason Bennett, global head of startups and venture capital at Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Faster growth, earlier traction: “We have more startups being created today than there were two years ago. And I suspect if you look out two years from now, you’ll see a further increase,” Bennett told us.
AI-native startups are showing faster revenue growth and gaining market traction earlier than traditional startups.
Data decoded: An AWS study with Strand Partners found AI-native startups growing revenues 167% year-on-year and are 5.5 times more likely to reach $1 million in earnings than non-AI-native peers. “Some companies are getting to hundreds of millions in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) very quickly,” Bennett said.
Extending support: AWS is increasingly supporting startups beyond cloud infrastructure, helping with go-to-market and enterprise customer acquisition through AWS Marketplace. “It’s not enough for us just to provide credits or to have a platform of services… We also have to help them drive engagement and win customers,” Bennett said.
Amazon’s latest global layoffs of around 1,000 employees have impacted at least 100 jobs in India, primarily across its retail and customer service functions, people aware of the development told us.
Amazon says: Responding to ET's queries, an Amazon spokesperson said, "We’ve adjusted parts of our Stores business because we believe this structure will better enable us to deliver on our priorities. As part of these changes, we’ve made the difficult decision to eliminate a small number of roles, and we’re committed to supporting affected employees through their transition."
DailyObjects raises funds: Lifestyle accessories brand DailyObjects has raised Rs 332 crore funding led by Xponentia Capital Partners, Anicut Capital, and Axiom Asia Private Capital. The round will value the company at Rs 1,050 crore post-money.
Groww attracts bulk of new broking clients: Online brokerage Groww continued to strengthen its position in India’s stockbroking market in September, adding 1,00,961 active clients even as the industry’s overall client base grew just 0.35% month-on-month, according to data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
■ Elon Musk’s exes are the most damning part of a massive new documentary (Wired)
■ AI upends Singapore’s ‘quant Olympics’ (FT)
■ How Amazon Rewired Its Data Centers After Mississippi Power Warning (The Information)
Also in the letter:
■ AWS ventures chief on AI
■ Layoffs at Amazon India
■ DailyObjects raises funds
Startups will crown new champions today at 12th ET Startup Awards in Bengaluru
It's D-day! Top entrepreneurs, policymakers, and investors will come together in Bengaluru today to honour the stars of Indian entrepreneurship at the twelfth edition of ETSA 2026.
What’s happening: Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal will be the guest of honour at ETSA 2026, presenting the country’s most coveted awards for entrepreneurial excellence to the winners.
Goyal is expected to speak about the government’s efforts to deepen and expand the country’s emerging business ecosystem.
Speakers: 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.
Also, 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.
Meet the winners: The high-powered jury led by Wipro chairman Rishad Premji tasked with choosing the winners of ETSA 2026 met in Bengaluru in August to pick the winners across eight categories. They are:
- Startup of the Year: Groww
- Midas Touch: Manu Chandra, founder and managing partner at consumer investment firm Sauce VC
- Bootstrap Champ: Habuild
- Top Innovator: Theranautilus
- Woman Ahead: Pallavi Mohadikar, cofounder and chief executive, Palmonas; Pallavi Shrivastava, cofounder and CEO, Progcap
- Social Enterprise: Varaha
- Comeback Kid: Mukund Jha
- Best On Campus: Armatrix
TCS profit up 15%, revenue by 11%
IT services major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Thursdayreported a 15% on-year growth in consolidated net profit in the second quarter of FY27.
Financials:
- Net profit: Rs 13,884 crore, versus Rs 12,075 crore a year ago.
- Revenue from operations: Up 11% YoY to Rs 73,188 crore, compared with Rs 65,799 crore in the last year period.
- Dividend: Rs 12 per share for FY27.
- Total contract value: TCS recorded $9.6 billion in total contract value from deals during the quarter.
- Porsche: It signed a five-year partnership with Porsche AG and proposed to acquire its Germany-based management and IT consulting subsidiary, MHP.
- Best Buy: TCS will take over Best Buy’s India GCC (global capability centre) and transform it into an AI Capability Center.
AI will fuel another wave of startup creation in two years: AWS ventures chief
Artificial intelligence (AI) is lowering barriers to building companies and is likely to fuel another wave of startup creation over the next two years, as founders build products faster and operate with smaller teams, according to Jason Bennett, global head of startups and venture capital at Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Faster growth, earlier traction: “We have more startups being created today than there were two years ago. And I suspect if you look out two years from now, you’ll see a further increase,” Bennett told us.
AI-native startups are showing faster revenue growth and gaining market traction earlier than traditional startups.
Data decoded: An AWS study with Strand Partners found AI-native startups growing revenues 167% year-on-year and are 5.5 times more likely to reach $1 million in earnings than non-AI-native peers. “Some companies are getting to hundreds of millions in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) very quickly,” Bennett said.
Extending support: AWS is increasingly supporting startups beyond cloud infrastructure, helping with go-to-market and enterprise customer acquisition through AWS Marketplace. “It’s not enough for us just to provide credits or to have a platform of services… We also have to help them drive engagement and win customers,” Bennett said.
Amazon India layoffs: Pink slips handed to employees across retail, customer service roles
Amazon’s latest global layoffs of around 1,000 employees have impacted at least 100 jobs in India, primarily across its retail and customer service functions, people aware of the development told us.
Amazon says: Responding to ET's queries, an Amazon spokesperson said, "We’ve adjusted parts of our Stores business because we believe this structure will better enable us to deliver on our priorities. As part of these changes, we’ve made the difficult decision to eliminate a small number of roles, and we’re committed to supporting affected employees through their transition."
Other Top Stories By Our Reporters
DailyObjects raises funds: Lifestyle accessories brand DailyObjects has raised Rs 332 crore funding led by Xponentia Capital Partners, Anicut Capital, and Axiom Asia Private Capital. The round will value the company at Rs 1,050 crore post-money.
Groww attracts bulk of new broking clients: Online brokerage Groww continued to strengthen its position in India’s stockbroking market in September, adding 1,00,961 active clients even as the industry’s overall client base grew just 0.35% month-on-month, according to data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
Global Picks We Are Reading
■ Elon Musk’s exes are the most damning part of a massive new documentary (Wired)
■ AI upends Singapore’s ‘quant Olympics’ (FT)
■ How Amazon Rewired Its Data Centers After Mississippi Power Warning (The Information)
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