Groww Named Startup of the Year at 12th Edition of ET Startup Awards in Bengaluru

Wealthtech platform Groww secured the Startup of the Year title at the twelfth edition of the Economic Times Startup Awards, held in Bengaluru on Friday. Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal attended the ceremony as the guest of honour to present the trophies to the winners.

The annual recognition program honours standout enterprises and founders across the country's digital economy. This year's top winner was selected by a high-powered jury led by Wipro executive chairman Rishad Premji. The panel spent hours deliberating across eight competitive categories before finalising the results.

Founded in 2016 by Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Ishan Bansal, and Neeraj Singh, Groww expanded from an initial mutual funds application into India's largest stockbroking platform by user base. The jury cited the company's disciplined execution within a tightly regulated sector, steady profitability, and its public listing as key drivers behind the decision.

Other prominent winners included Manu Chandra, founder and managing partner of Sauce VC, who received the Midas Touch award for early-stage investor excellence. Digital wellness enterprise Habuild took home the Bootstrap Champ prize for scaling its operations without heavy external funding.

In the Top Innovator category, Bengaluru-based Theranautilus was recognised for its work engineering magnetically steerable nanorobots designed to target deep-seated medical infections. The Woman Ahead category featured joint winners: Pallavi Mohadikar, co-founder of demi-fine jewellery brand Palmonas, and Pallavi Shrivastava, co-founder of retail credit platform Progcap.

Additional category winners included Varaha for Social Enterprise, Mukund Jha for the Comeback Kid honour, and Armatrix under the Best On Campus section. Finalists and attendees at the venue discussed the rapid institutional maturation of home-grown enterprises as more firms transition into publicly traded entities.

The event highlighted how Indian entrepreneurship has expanded beyond consumer internet services into deep science, biotechnology, and specialized financial infrastructure. Policy makers and industry leaders at the summit noted that several emerging firms are on track for major public market milestones over the coming fiscal cycle.