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The Younge & Enterprising

BW Online Bureau May 15, 2023

The year gone was among the tougher ones for the Indian startup ecosystem in general. Many of the planned developments got delayed and the headlines were a mix of cost-cutting, restructuring and layoffs. Despite the prolonged funding winter, the wave of mass layoffs, Initial Public Offer call-offs, and major banks collapsing in global markets, many entrepreneurs in India stood strong. Not only have they survived, but these startups have taken great strides in making a large-scale impact and generating revenue.

BW Businessworld and BW Disrupt took a closer look at some of these young companies, which proved their ideas and business models, and took the right initiatives indicating that the road ahead will most likely see them becoming established large enterprises of tomorrow.

India’s Time Is Now

India’s startup ecosystem has seen consistent growth even in challenging times. According to a report by Statista, in the year 2022, around 19,000 startups were recognised by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). India’s startups have been growing since 2016 with businesses mushrooming rapidly across the country.

Given the size of India’s consumer base, young entrepreneurs have been able to spot the whitespaces even in India’s best-regarded sectors, such as financial services, automotive, and more. The rise of technology-led solutions has assisted them in adding value not only to people’s lives but also to other sectors. BW Disrupt’s Young Entrepreneur and Enterprise Awards is an initiative to recognise and acknowledge the disruption done by startups in respective sectors.

With the government planning to introduce new draft rules for valuation and angel tax, experts have been highlighting that founders must follow a leaner approach. And focus on value creation rather than valuation. Startups have been tapping new marketplaces in lower-tier cities. Amid uncertain economic and geopolitical conditions, sustaining in the cut-throat competitive market is key to sailing through.

The Screening Process

As is the case every year, a multi-phased process was followed to arrive at the winners this year as well. An initial round of screening was done to arrive at over 150 valid entries. These came from across sectors and represented different business models. Following this, in the second level of assessment, a total of 50 nominees were shortlisted and invited to present before the power-packed jury panel.

The process of finalising the list of 15 winners was rigorously demanding. The nominations were evaluated on critical parameters that included the founder’s vision, market size, financial growth, the scope of social impact and the long-term growth potential it holds.

Entrepreneurs from an extensive range of industries such as ecommerce, fintech, healthtech, logistics, direct-to-consumer brands, apparel businesses, and social enterprises, were nominated for the felicitation. One of the critical conditions for nominating was that the entrepreneur should be under the age of 35 and the enterprise should be seven years or younger.

The jury panel for the year 2023 comprised industry leaders such as Ankit Agrawal, Director-Venture Debt, Lighthouse Canton; Sambit Dash, Partner, RPSG Capital Ventures; Bala C. Deshpande, Founder and Partner, MegaDelta Capital and Arpit Agarwal, Director, Blume Ventures. Other notable names among the jurors were Ninad Kapre, Partner, 100X.VC; Ankit Kedia, Founder, Capital A; Uma Shankar Bhardwaj, Founder and CEO, iAvatarZ Digital and Aditya Prakash Gupta, Partner – GEMs.

Know The Winners

Ranging from beauty and personal care to apparel, logistics to food and healthtech, and fintech, 15 top enterprises and entrepreneurs secured the win at the eighth edition of BW Disrupt's Young Entrepreneur Awards 2023. Considering the larger emphasis on the startup sector, future-ready entrepreneurs are in the ‘driver’s seat’ to navigate economic growth. Startups’ stakeholders are in pursuit of crafting and drafting innovative solutions that can address a plethora of problems modern-day India faces.

Funding for Indian startups in the first quarter of the calendar year 2023 fell 75 per cent to USD 2.8 billion as compared to the same period in the previous year, a report by Tracxn said. Whereas the funding for Indian startups decreased year-on-year (YoY), the month-on-month (MoM) saw a significant uptick of 54 per cent from USD 777 million in February to USD 1.2 billion in March.

Regardless of the challenging global headwinds and market rightsizing, entrepreneurs will continue to innovate and solve large-scale problems. They will continue to hugely contribute to the Indian economy in order to reach the $5 trillion mark.

1 Aakriti Rawal Co-founder & CEO House of Chikankari

2 Ajay Lakhotia Founder & CEO StockGro

3 Ankit Fatehpuria Co-founder Zetwerk Manufacturing

4 Bharat Bansal Co-founder & CEO Nirmalaya Wellness

5 Divij Bajaj Founder & CEO Power Gummies

6 Preet Pal Thakur Co-founder Glamyo Health

7 Kartik Hajela Co-founder and COO Log9 Materials

8 Kishan Karunakaran CEO Buyofuel

9 Pallavi Shrivastava Co-founder & Director Progcap

10 Parul Sharma Founder & CEO Gladful Foods

11 Pranav Bajaj Co-founder Medulance

12 Sandeep Devgan Chief Executive Officer Stonefield Flavours