Elite jury meets today to pick winners of ET Startup Awards 2023

An elite jury led by Kotak Mahindra Bank founder and director Uday Kotak will meet virtually on Tuesday to pick the winners of the ninth edition of India’s most coveted prize for entrepreneurial excellence – The Economic Times Startup Awards (ETSA).

Joining Kotak on the jury will be Ranjan Pai, chairman of Manipal Hospital; Shekhar Kirani, partner at Accel; Supam Maheshwari, cofounder & CEO of FirstCry; Deepinder Goyal, cofounder & CEO of Zomato; Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of Flipkart group; Renuka Ramnath, founder of Multiples PE; Harshil Mathur, cofounder & CEO of Razorpay; Roshni Nadar Malhotra, chairperson of HCLTech; Satyan Gajwani, vice chairman at Times Internet; and Arjun Sethi, cofounder of Silicon Valley-based Tribe Capital, who will also be a part of the high-powered panel.

The jury members spread across the world will come together to recognise the brightest and best entrepreneurial leaders in what has turned out to be one of the most testing years for the startup ecosystem.


Also read | ET Startup Awards 2023: A growth mindset will set the winner apart

ETSA will award founders who have built companies without external funding, those who have innovated successfully in the social enterprise space, and entrepreneurs who have made a comeback. We will also present the highest accolade of them all – the Startup of the Year.

The awards will also recognise students who have founded companies while on campus, women entrepreneurs in the Woman Ahead category, and the year’s best investor in the Midas Touch category.

The backdrop

With investors hitting the brakes on growth and late-stage funding, it has become imperative for startups to find more sustainable ways to grow. The impact of this has been palpable over the last one year that saw many companies course correct into building disciplined business models.

Also read | Resilient and sustainable businesses key while picking winners, say jury members

The star-studded jury will be looking for champions emerging from what has been one of the most tumultuous years for new economy space.

ET reached out to more than 150-200 of the country’s top entrepreneurs, investors, industry groups and other stakeholders to compile an exhaustive list of India’s brightest entrepreneurial talent.

The paper’s editorial team, along with knowledge partner Tracxn, then arrived at the final shortlist of 38 nominees across eight categories.