ET Startup Awards’ greatest hits: a decade of spotting winners

Previous winners of the ET Startup Awards (ETSA) have stood out amid a crowded ecosystem and have gone on to become successful businesses. We look at a few of them from previous editions of the awards.

Bootstrap Champ (2015): Browserstack

The Bootstrap Champ in the inaugural edition of the awards, the web and mobile testing platform today enables Amazon, Microsoft, Nvidia and X to test their software on the cloud. Bootstrapped for its first seven years since its inception in 2011, it has raised over $250 million and was most recently valued at $4 billion.

Delhivery's Sahil Barua receives the award from Piyush Goyal & Ravi Shankar Prasad

Best on Campus (2016): Ather Energy

Founded in 2013 on the IIT Madras campus Ather Energy has filed draft papers for its initial public offering, through which the electric two-wheeler maker plans to raise Rs 3,100 crore in fresh capital. Ather Energy is India’s fourth-largest electric two-wheeler maker by volume after Ola Electric, TVS Motor, and Bajaj Auto.

Woman Ahead (2017): Falguni Nayar, Nykaa

Falguni Nayar, founder of beauty and personal care e-commerce platform Nykaa, redefined the Indian retail space. Under her leadership, Nykaa became a trailblazer for beauty and wellness, eventually going public in 2021. The group expanded into fashion in 2018, with its market capitalisation reaching $7.15 billion as of Thursday.

Comeback Kid (2018): Grofers

Grofers, now known as Blinkit, has successfully reconceived itself from a online grocery delivery service to a leader in the quick-commerce space after its pivot in 2021. The company has plans to aggresively expand its network of dark stores to to 2,000 by the end of 2026.

Startup of the Year (2019): Delhivery

Delhivery, the logistics solutions provider, became a leader in India’s e-commerce logistics space. The company went public in 2022, during a time when consumer tech startups were steering clear of the public markets. Its market capitalisation currently stands at $3.72 billion.

Ritesh Arora & Nakul Aggarwal of Browserstack

Best on Campus (2019): Atomberg Technologies

Known for its energy-efficient home appliances, the company gained attention with its innovative ceiling fans using
Brushless DC (BLDC) motors. Founded in 2012, its revenue crossed Rs 600 crore in FY23. It counts the likes of Temasek and Steadview Capital as its backers.

Best on Campus (2020): Bellatrix Aerospace

The spacetech startup said this year that it will start commercialising its proprietary propulsion systems. The company achieved a significant milestone with the launch of its propulsion systems on board the national
space agency’s launch vehicle on January 1.

Comeback Kid (2021): Ixigo

Ixigo navigated through the devastation of the pandemic on the travel industry and successfully made its public market debut this year, hitting the upper circuit on its opening day.

Startup of the Year (2021): Zomato

Zomato went public in 2021 opening the floodgates for new-age firms to tap the IPO market. It has hit a market cap of $28 billion this year, driven by group-level profitability and its expanding share in the buzzing quick commerce sector through Blinkit.