Economic Times Startup Awards (ETSA) have captured the ever-changing world of technology and Digital India as the sector has grown from infancy to the stage of spawning publicly-traded corporations.
Having seen at least two cycles of the funding boom followed by a tech winter, the awards are a true testament to the way Indian entrepreneurship has matured in the past nine years amid many crests and troughs.
But what goes behind selecting the nominees and the winners of the ET Startup Awards, considered the most prestigious in the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem.
June: ET reached out to over 200 of the country’s top entrepreneurs, investors, industry groups and other stakeholders to compile a list of the brightest entrepreneurial talent.
July: We received hundreds of nominations from this select group. The editorial team then filtered and analysed each entry by going through financials and other data with the help of our knowledge partner Tracxn to arrive at a shortlist of nominees.
ET’s editorial team then reached out to all the nominees to verify information, interview founders and tally all the data independently.
August: The ET editorial team put together the ETSA jury dossier, which contained the names of the top five nominees in each category along with detailed profiles and financials for the past three years. The data shared by companies is confidential and never