Woman Ahead and Social Enterprise nominees

Happy Tuesday! After revealing the high-powered jury and nominees for four categories, today we unveil the contenders for Woman Ahead and Social Enterprise. Read on to know more.

Also in this letter:
■ Ex-Jio top boss sets up startup fund
■ Clean Electric raises $6 million
■ Ather files for Rs 3,100 crore IPO

ETSA 2024: Nominees for Woman Ahead and Social Enterprise nominees

Woman Ahead: As the name suggests, this award recognises women who have started their own ventures and are giving the best in the business a run for their money. The women up for this year’s award run a diverse set of startups.

And the nominees are…

• Ankur Dahiya – Rozana
• Romita Mazumdar – Foxtale
• Prukalpa Sankar – Atlan
• Shruti – ApnaKlub
• Hardika Shah – Kinara Capital

Read more about the nominees here

Social Enterprise: With this category, we intend to recognise the startup that best embodies the ‘double bottomline’ model, one that combines profits with the public good.

And the nominees are…

• Blackfrog Technologies
• Saahas Zero Waste
• Kosh
• Rang De
• Haqdarshak

Read more about the nominees here

Take a look at the nominees for the other four categories below:

ETSA 2024: Jury expects to reward original ideas, tomorrow’s heroes

Nikhil Kamath, cofounder, Zerodha and Nyrika Holkar, executive director, Godrej & Boyce

A high-powered jury led by Infosys cofounder and chairman Nandan Nilekani will meet on September 11 to pick the winners of the 10th edition of The Economic Times Startup Awards 2024, India’s most coveted recognition for entrepreneurial excellence.

Today, Nyrika Holkar, executive director, Godrej & Boyce, and Nikhil Kamath, cofounder, Zerodha, tell us what they expect from this year’s contenders.
Read more on what the jury expects from the ETSA nominees.

Also Read | ET Startup Awards 2024: Jury members value uniqueness in startups

ET Startup Awards 2024: Jury looks for resilient innovators and impactful business models

Not enough cabs to meet rising demand: Uber India president

Prabhjeet Singh, president, Uber India and South Asia

Ride-hailing platforms in India do not have enough vehicles to fulfil the demand, a top Uber official said, attributing the supply shortage to high asset ownership costs.

Quick growth: “We’re fulfiling less than the total demand that we have on the platform because we still have fewer cars on the platform than would be required to fulfil the demand,” Prabhjeet Singh, president of Uber India and South Asia, told us in an exclusive interaction, adding that the ride-hailing segment is recording rapid growth in India.

Also Read | Uber ups hyperlocal deliveries as quick commerce takes off

India play: “In the last quarter, we’ve added more riders and drivers than we’ve ever had on our platform…and this is in our 11th year of operations, which shows that the category – even at this scale – is accelerating,” Singh added.

Over the last few years, Uber India has diversified beyond its core on-demand ride-hailing product and introduced services such as intercity rides, pre-reserved trips, store pickups, and bus shuttles. It is set to bring back its offering Uber Black to India after a hiatus of 10 years, as reported on August 26.

Also Read | Rapido raises $200 million in funding led by WestBridge; valuation hits $1.1 billion

Market dynamics: While Uber and Ola continue to dominate app-based taxi services in India, they are facing increasing rivalry from newer players such as WestBridge Capital-backed Rapido, BluSmart, Namma Yatri, and InDrive, among others.

Also Read | Upstarts are everywhere, we have to be constantly on our toes in India: Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi

Other Top Stories By Our Reporters

Vikas Choudhury, founder, Playbook Partners

Former Jio top boss sets up growth-stage startup fund Playbook Partners: Former Reliance Jio top executive Vikas Choudhury has launched a new fund – Playbook Partners, which has reached its first close at $130 million. Choudhury said he may eventually expand the fund to $250 million in size. Playbook has raised money from large institutional investors from Europe, the US, West Asia, and India.

Clean Electric raises $6 million from Info Edge Ventures, others: Clean Electric, which develops fast-charging battery technology for electric vehicles and grid battery solutions, has raised $6 million in a funding round co-led by Info Edge Ventures, Pi Ventures, and Kalaari Capital. The round also saw participation from Lok Capital and other investors.

Ather files for IPO; to raise Rs 3,100 crore in fresh capital: Ather Energy has filed draft papers for its initial public offering, through which the electric two-wheeler maker plans to raise Rs 3,100 crore in fresh capital and conduct an offer-for-sale (OFS) of 22 million shares held by existing investors.

Indian AI talent will play a major role in building apps: Infosys CTO | India’s engineering and artificial intelligence (AI) talent will play a significant role in the huge volume game of building software applications, says Infosys’ chief technology officer, Mohammed Rafee Tarafdar. Enterprise problems can be solved by creating more use cases by getting deeper into the technology stack to bring swiftness and higher scale for impact, he said.

Global Picks We Are Reading

■ Apple pins hopes on AI to boost flagging iPhone sales (FT)

■ Google Faces Blockbuster Antitrust Case—Again (WSJ)

■ Elon Musk Has Backed Himself Into a Corner in Brazil (Wired)

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