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Groww was named Startup of the Year at the 12th Economic Times Startup Awards, held in Bengaluru on Friday, October 9, 2026. The jury also named winners in seven other categories, and one of them, Woman Ahead, was shared by two founders for the first time in the award’s history.
Full list of winners
The jury chose eight category winners. The table below lists each category with its winner and the description The Economic Times gave in its report of the event.
| Award category | Winner | How the report describes the winner |
|---|---|---|
| Startup of the Year | Groww | Bengaluru-based wealthtech platform, recognised for rapid growth alongside healthy profitability |
| Midas Touch | Manu Chandra | Founder and managing partner at Sauce VC, recognised for early-stage consumer-focused investing |
| Bootstrap Champ | Habuild | Online yoga platform |
| Social Enterprise | Varaha | Climatetech startup |
| Woman Ahead | Pallavi Mohadikar (Palmonas) and Pallavi Shrivastava (Progcap) | Joint winners; cofounder and CEO of each company |
| Top Innovator | Theranautilus | Deeptech startup |
| Best on Campus | Armatrix | Not described beyond the category name in the report |
| Comeback Kid | Mukund Jha | Cofounder of vibe-coding startup Emergent |
Startup of the Year: Groww
Groww took the top award. The report says the jury selected it for continued rapid growth while maintaining healthy profitability. It also notes that Groww listed in November 2025 and had a market capitalisation of about $12.5 billion at the time of publication. That figure is a snapshot from the October 9, 2026 report and will move with the market.
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Woman Ahead: the first joint win
The Woman Ahead award went to two founders. According to the report, this was the first time the award was shared. The winners were Pallavi Mohadikar, cofounder and CEO of Palmonas, and Pallavi Shrivastava, cofounder and CEO of Progcap.
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Individual and category-specific awards
Each category has its own rationale, so the winners should not be read as competitors for the same prize. Midas Touch recognised an investor’s early-stage, consumer-focused work rather than a company’s results. Bootstrap Champ, Social Enterprise, Top Innovator, and Best on Campus are awarded for different qualities. Comeback Kid went to a founder rather than a company. Readers comparing winners should look at each category’s stated focus first.
How the jury reached its decisions
An 11-member jury chaired by Rishad Premji, executive chairman of Wipro, selected the winners. The report says the jury deliberated for more than three hours on August 25, 2026. The other named jury members were Sachin Bansal, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Mukesh Bansal, Mithun Sacheti, Nandita Sinha, Ajit Mohan, Irina Ghose, Paras Chopra, Abhiraj Singh Bhal, and Aryaman Vikram Birla.
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Event context and market figures
Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal was the guest of honour. The report said he was expected to discuss government efforts to deepen and expand India’s emerging business ecosystem; this describes the expected subject of his remarks, not a verbatim statement. The report does not give a running order or start time for the event.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsThe report places the awards against a shift toward deeptech and physical hardware, which it describes as sectors that need longer gestation periods and major technological breakthroughs. A discussion on that theme was scheduled with Accel founding partner Prashanth Prakash, Pixxel cofounder and CTO Kshitij Khandelwal, BrainSight AI cofounder and CEO Laina Emmanuel, and Agrani Labs cofounder and CEO Dheemanth Nagaraj.
The report also cites Meesho, which made its public-market debut in December 2025 and had a market value above $10 billion at publication. Like the Groww figure, this is a dated value from the October 9, 2026 report and should not be treated as a current quote.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Sources and limits
All winners, roles, and figures in this article come from The Economic Times/ETtech’s report published on October 9, 2026. The report contains no direct quotations from named speakers. Results are reported as the publisher described them; this article did not attend the event.
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