Led by Nandan Nilekani, co-founder and non-executive chairman of Infosys, will meet virtually on Friday to choose the winners of the 7th edition of India’s most prestigious award for entrepreneurial excellence – The Economic Times Startup Awards (ETSA)
Eleven members of the jury spread across India, Silicon Valley and Singapore will come together to reward the brightest and best entrepreneurial leaders in what will become a banner year for the startup ecosystem.
Nilekani will have to be included in the jury Deepinder Goyal, Cofounder and CEO of Zomato; Gokul Rajaram, Doordarshan Product and Business Leader; Sachin Bansal, Founder and CEO, Navi Technologies; and Nithin Kamath, founder and CEO of Zerodha. Anu Hariharan, Partner at Y Combinator Continuity Fund; Amit Agarwal, Global SVP and Country Head, Amazon India; Satyan Gajwani, Vice Chairman, Times Internet Limited; GV Ravi Shankar, MD, Sequoia Capital India; Harsh Jain, co-founder and CEO of Dream11; And Ankiti Bose, cofounder and CEO of Zilingo, will also be part of the high-powered panel.
Shortlist of 44 Candidates
ETSA will reward founders who built companies without external funding, those who successfully innovate in social enterprise, and return entrepreneurs. We will also present the highest honor of them all – Startup of the Year. This year, an additional category has been added to recognize startups that are alive and growing amidst the challenges posed by the pandemic in their sectors.
ETSA 2021 The event is being held in the backdrop of a record-breaking inflow of investors into local startups, with 27 new unicorns born this year and several new-age technology ventures taking the IPO route.
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ET reached out to over 100 of the country’s top entrepreneurs, investors, industry groups and other stakeholders to help compile a comprehensive list of India’s brightest entrepreneurial talent.
The newspaper’s editorial team, along with knowledge partner Traxon, prepared a shortlist of 44 nominees in nine categories.
It is from this carefully selected shortlist that the jury will choose the final winners ET Startup Awards 2021.