Bengaluru: Top-tier Indian startups with strong fundamentals will continue to take the IPO route even as the public markets stay volatile and there is increased regulatory scrutiny of new-age companies, said policymakers, founders and investors at the seventh edition of The Economic Times Startup Awards, the most coveted accolade for the country’s thriving entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Around 175 guests gathered in a physical setting after two years, in what turned out to be a high-energy coming together of a star-studded group from India’s startup world. At the grand ceremony on Saturday in Bengaluru, online food-delivery and restaurant discovery platform Zomato
won the prestigious Startup of the Year award.

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In the presence of guests of honour Piyush Goyal, minister for commerce and industry, consumer affairs, textiles and food & public distribution, Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister for railways, communications, electronics and information technology, Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, and Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for skill development and entrepreneurship and electronics and information technology, the who’s who of the industry gathered to laud winners across nine categories.

Following the broader theme of the Awards this year, the elite jury picked Zomato for paving the way for technology-led companies to list on Indian bourses with its bumper public issue. Nykaa, Policybazaar and Paytm had followed suit, creating unprecedented interest among first-time retail investors in these IPOs. Zomato joins a distinguished list of previous winners including online brokerage firm Zerodha, logistics and supply chain services company Delhivery, hospitality platform Oyo Hotels & Homes, food-delivery major Swiggy, enterprise software maker Freshworks, and ride-hailing app Ola, which had bagged top honours in the inaugural edition in 2015.

Other winners included Abhiraj Singh Bhal, cofounder and CEO at Urban Company (formerly Urbanclap),
whose firm was picked in the Covid-led Business Transformation category; and Sanjeev Bikhchandani, cofounder of Info Edge,
who bagged the Midas Touch Award for being an early investor in Zomato.

Lizzie Chapman, cofounder and CEO of ZestMoney,
won in the Woman Ahead category.

The most hotly discussed topic was technology startup IPOs with founders and investors unanimously agreeing that going public continues to be on the cards and it’s just a matter of favourable timing.

In a panel discussion on The IPO Opportunity: How Startups will Transition from Private to Public Market, Delhivery cofounder & CEO Sahil Barua said, “I think you will continue to see startups going public because good companies are good companies, it is really as simple as that.”

While Delhivery
has received a nod from the market regulator for its proposed IPO, Barua said that, keeping in mind current market conditions, the company has decided to wait it out.

While the public market readjusts to the valuations of tech companies globally, funding in startups is not going to stagnate because capital continues to flow in, said BigBasket cofounder and CEO Hari Menon. “But I think you will see a lot of the frenzy settle down,” he said. “You will see corrections in valuation but money will not dry up.”

As in previous editions, this year too, ETSA emerged as a platform for facilitating dialogue between policymakers and the startup community. Multiple ongoing hot-button issues in the industry were highlighted on the sidelines of the ceremony.

Flipkart group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said the ET Startup Awards celebrate the spirit of entrepreneurship, renewed energy and enthusiasm.

“Not just to celebrate the winners, but also because it was held in-person, which allowed for deeper conversations and connect… Interacting with honourable ministers Piyush Goyal, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, was insightful as always,” he said. “We discussed how we can continue to bolster entrepreneurship and create an environment that remains supportive of business.”

Shashank Kumar, cofounder of Razorpay, said the awards “provided a great opportunity to meet and connect with startup founders in person after a very long time”.

“The focus on celebrating the success as well as talking about the future of the industry…makes it a holistic and all-round great event,” he said.

The Economic Times Startup Awards 2021 is presented by IDFC First Bank. Those supporting the event include knowledge partner Tracxn, hospitality partner The Leela Palace, Bengaluru, and telecast partner ET Now.