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Winners of the ET Startup Awards 2026; Groww vs Zerodha
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Groww won the top prize at the 12th edition of the Economic Times Startup Awards. The list of other winners, and more, in today’s ETtech Top 5.
Also in the letter:
■ Dream 11 pivots away from RMG
■ Temple acquires biotech startup
■ OpenAI launches ads in India
The jury met in Bengaluru on August 25
A high-powered jury, helmed by Wipro executive chairman Rishad Premji, named wealthtech platform Groww the Startup of the Year, at the 12th edition of The Economic Times Startup Awards (ETSA).
The 11-member panel deliberated for three hours to pick the winners in the eight categories of ETSA 2026.
Groww’s execution in a competitive, tightly regulated business, profitability, and successful public listing left a lasting impression on the jury.
Winner’s club: Founded by Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Ishan Bansal, and Neeraj Singh in 2016, publicly-listed Groww joins an elite club of winners of the top prize that includes Urban Company, Lenskart, Zomato (now Eternal), Delhivery, Razorpay, OfBusiness, and Swiggy.
Other winners:
Jury’s views: The group of corporate bigwigs and consumer internet and global tech leaders had a stimulating session as they decided on the winner from the best of India’s entrepreneurial talent.
Impressed by the startups they were evaluating, the jury noted that at least two of them will make it to the Nifty 50 in the not-so-distant future. Members of the jury were particularly impressed by the unconventional ventures aiming to solve global problems across categories, generating much optimism about India’s future.
Do you consider a public market company a startup, or do those not qualify? That was the big debate during the jury meet.
What happened: Some jury members viewed public listing as a transition beyond the startup stage. Others argued that listed companies can still be startups if they continue to grow rapidly, build new capabilities, and shape emerging markets.
The finalists for ET Startup of the Year were Groww, Meesho, Porter, Skyroot, Rapido and Sarvam. Groww ultimately won because of its combination of scale, profitability, and accelerating growth.
Fintech firm Groww expanded faster in FY26 and had a much bigger active-client base, but Zerodha was almost twice as large both in revenues and profits.
Let’s take a look at how the rivals stack up.
Financials:
Response to slowdown: Both brokers were affected by weaker retail trading after the September 2024 market peak, tighter futures-and-options rules, higher securities transaction tax, and the end of exchange rebates.
In FY26, Zerodha’s brokerage income fell 10.7% to Rs 2,738 crore, while its net transaction charge income dropped to zero from Rs 400 crore. Groww faced the same challenges, but grew its stocks, mutual funds, and derivatives business, with commodities and margin funding also driving revenues.
Dream 11 said it has completely transitioned from fantasy gaming, repositioning itself as a broader sports engagement platform a year after the government banned real-money gaming (RMG).
Driving the news: Dream 11 said it has discontinued all prize-based contests on its platform, and is focussing on sports content, live streaming, statistics, scores, commentary, community features, and social contests. The company said it has 300 million users.
It is also building an AI-first platform with personalised content based on users’ favourite sports, leagues, and teams.
The context: The government prohibited online money games in August 2025, gutting the online gaming industry. Dream 11 stopped paid contests after the law was passed, while its peers, including Mobile Premier League and Junglee Games, are also exploring new business models.
The new law erased 95% of Dream11 parent Dream Sports’ revenues and 100% of its profits. CEO Harsh Jain had described the turn of events as a “knock-out punch” in an interview with us last year.
Deepinder Goyal on Thursday announced that his wearable startup Temple has acquired London-based biotech firm Longevous for an undisclosed amount.
Deal details:
About Longevous: Launched in 2025, the company produces longevity medicine integrating academic research, advanced diagnostics, and AI. Mohr has two decades of clinical experience and Roy is an Oxford-trained biomedical scientist.
Background: This comes as Temple readies its wearable devices for the market, priced at about Rs 75,000-80,000, ET reported in July. Goyal said last week that the company will soon open pre-orders for the devices.
Also Read: Deepinder Goyal's Temple eyes $500 million valuation as it prices debut wearable device at Rs 80,000
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
OpenAI rolled out ChatGPT ads in India today, months after the feature was announced by the company.
Details:
Yes, and: “The launch will be followed with self-serve access to ChatGPT Ads Manager in India on September 4, enabling businesses of all sizes to sign up and grow their business with daily budgets starting as low as Rs 725,” said a company statement.
Also in the letter:
■ Dream 11 pivots away from RMG
■ Temple acquires biotech startup
■ OpenAI launches ads in India
ET Startup Awards 2026: Groww is Startup of the Year; Sauce VC’s Manu Chandra wins Midas Touch
A high-powered jury, helmed by Wipro executive chairman Rishad Premji, named wealthtech platform Groww the Startup of the Year, at the 12th edition of The Economic Times Startup Awards (ETSA).
The 11-member panel deliberated for three hours to pick the winners in the eight categories of ETSA 2026.
Groww’s execution in a competitive, tightly regulated business, profitability, and successful public listing left a lasting impression on the jury.
Winner’s club: Founded by Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Ishan Bansal, and Neeraj Singh in 2016, publicly-listed Groww joins an elite club of winners of the top prize that includes Urban Company, Lenskart, Zomato (now Eternal), Delhivery, Razorpay, OfBusiness, and Swiggy.
Other winners:
- 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
Jury’s views: The group of corporate bigwigs and consumer internet and global tech leaders had a stimulating session as they decided on the winner from the best of India’s entrepreneurial talent.
Impressed by the startups they were evaluating, the jury noted that at least two of them will make it to the Nifty 50 in the not-so-distant future. Members of the jury were particularly impressed by the unconventional ventures aiming to solve global problems across categories, generating much optimism about India’s future.
As startups go public, ETSA jury asks: When does a startup cease to be one?
What happened: Some jury members viewed public listing as a transition beyond the startup stage. Others argued that listed companies can still be startups if they continue to grow rapidly, build new capabilities, and shape emerging markets.
The finalists for ET Startup of the Year were Groww, Meesho, Porter, Skyroot, Rapido and Sarvam. Groww ultimately won because of its combination of scale, profitability, and accelerating growth.
Groww versus Zerodha: One wins the customer race, the other the earnings battle
Fintech firm Groww expanded faster in FY26 and had a much bigger active-client base, but Zerodha was almost twice as large both in revenues and profits.
Let’s take a look at how the rivals stack up.
Financials:
- Groww’s operating revenue rose 19% to Rs 4,644 crore and net profit rose 14% to Rs 2,083 crore.
- Zerodha’s revenue was flat at about Rs 8,800 crore, while profit edged up 1.2% to Rs 4,283 crore.
Response to slowdown: Both brokers were affected by weaker retail trading after the September 2024 market peak, tighter futures-and-options rules, higher securities transaction tax, and the end of exchange rebates.
In FY26, Zerodha’s brokerage income fell 10.7% to Rs 2,738 crore, while its net transaction charge income dropped to zero from Rs 400 crore. Groww faced the same challenges, but grew its stocks, mutual funds, and derivatives business, with commodities and margin funding also driving revenues.
Dream11 completes pivot away from real-money gaming
Dream 11 said it has completely transitioned from fantasy gaming, repositioning itself as a broader sports engagement platform a year after the government banned real-money gaming (RMG).
Driving the news: Dream 11 said it has discontinued all prize-based contests on its platform, and is focussing on sports content, live streaming, statistics, scores, commentary, community features, and social contests. The company said it has 300 million users.
It is also building an AI-first platform with personalised content based on users’ favourite sports, leagues, and teams.
The context: The government prohibited online money games in August 2025, gutting the online gaming industry. Dream 11 stopped paid contests after the law was passed, while its peers, including Mobile Premier League and Junglee Games, are also exploring new business models.
The new law erased 95% of Dream11 parent Dream Sports’ revenues and 100% of its profits. CEO Harsh Jain had described the turn of events as a “knock-out punch” in an interview with us last year.
Deepinder Goyal’s Temple acquires London-based Longevous for undisclosed sum
Deepinder Goyal on Thursday announced that his wearable startup Temple has acquired London-based biotech firm Longevous for an undisclosed amount.
Deal details:
- As part of the deal, Longevous founders Robert Mohr and Avi Roy will join Temple, as chief medical officer and head of science, respectively.
- The company’s team will also join Temple.
About Longevous: Launched in 2025, the company produces longevity medicine integrating academic research, advanced diagnostics, and AI. Mohr has two decades of clinical experience and Roy is an Oxford-trained biomedical scientist.
Background: This comes as Temple readies its wearable devices for the market, priced at about Rs 75,000-80,000, ET reported in July. Goyal said last week that the company will soon open pre-orders for the devices.
Also Read: Deepinder Goyal's Temple eyes $500 million valuation as it prices debut wearable device at Rs 80,000
OpenAI launches ChatGPT ads in India
OpenAI rolled out ChatGPT ads in India today, months after the feature was announced by the company.
Details:
- Advertisements will be visible to the free and Go tiers.
- They will be for logged-in adult customers.
- Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education subscriptions will remain ad-free.
- WPP and Omnicom will be OpenAI’s first agency partners for ChatGPT ads in India.
Yes, and: “The launch will be followed with self-serve access to ChatGPT Ads Manager in India on September 4, enabling businesses of all sizes to sign up and grow their business with daily budgets starting as low as Rs 725,” said a company statement.
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