Seen and heard: sidelights from ETSA 2022

The Economic Times Startup Awards (ETSA) ceremony, held in Bengaluru on Saturday, brought together India’s top entrepreneurs, policymakers and investors. While the main events of the evening were a panel discussion on ‘The Great Reset’ and speeches by three ministers, ETSA 2022 also facilitated discussions on tech news and policy, not to mention a host of after-parties. Here are some sidelights from India’s most prestigious startup awards night.

Piddly Fines

A well-known early-stage investor was heard saying that the recent CCI verdicts on Google were good, but described the fines imposed on the company “piddly. ” He said that while the government’s move to ban Chinese apps was welcome, the monopoly of American apps is equally dangerous.

Razor’s Edge

After winning the top award, Razorpay CEO Harshil Mathur was discussing digital payments and its growth with Union cabinet minister Piyush Goyal when the latter quickly asked him if he had integrated on ONDC, whose CEO T Koshy was equally quick to respond and say the integration was underway. Nandan Nilekani, who Mathur is expected to meet in the coming weeks, clearly approved of Razorpay’s adoption of Unified Payments Interface (UPI). For certain, Mathur has plans for ONDC too.

Time to Party

The Economic Times Startup Awards have been dubbed the Oscars of the startup and tech world. And like the Academy Awards, ETSA spawned a host of well-attended after-parties, with venture capital firms like Matrix Partners, founders and investors hosting winners and other guests once the ceremony wrapped up.

Jet, Set, Share

A private jet timeshare was the solution that some guests flying into Bengaluru came up with – letting them avoid gridlock at the airport, though there’s no escape from the infamous Bengaluru road traffic. Local guests and a few of the winners met with the usual Saturday evening traffic snarls leading to delays.