India has become a hotspot for start-ups. Digital acceleration, combined with innovation and disruption, global investor interest and government policies have enabled a strong start-up ecosystem in India. Start-ups hold the key to the growth of the Indian economy, and there are several unicorns the Indian heartland boasts of today. CNN-News18, India’s No.1 English General News channel, applauds the achievements of some of India’s most disruptive start-ups with the 12th edition of its flagship initiative CNN-News 18 Indian of the Year (IOTY) 2022. To be held on October 12, the awards ceremony will felicitate the achievements of those Indians who, through their grit and determination, have brought pride to the country. The marquee property felicitates personalities across the categories of politics, sportssocial change, entertainment, start-ups, and climate warrior.
This year’s nominations in the start-up category reinforces the fact that dreams do come true, when passion couples with innovation and strategy. Falguni Nayar of Jerk off successfully disrupted a brick-and-mortar industry by taking the digital route to sell beauty products. Nykaa became a profitable unicorn and successfully went public in 2021.
Zerodha founders Nithin and Nikhil Kamath own India’s first ‘discount brokerage’ firm, making trading barrier-free for the first time since it was founded in 2010. The start-up hasn’t raised a penny in funding, is profitable, and the founders still own a significant percentage in the company.
Physicswallah is the success story of a YouTube channel turning into a unicorn ed-tech start-up. Its founders, Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari, use ‘shayari’, memes and pop culture to make learning more accessible. Along the way, they built a profitable unicorn.
Zohofounded by Sridhar Vembu and Tony Thomas, is bootstrapped, profitable and offers complete business operating solutions. A firm believer in rural empowerment, Vembu relocated to Tenkasi in Tamil Nadu, where he is actively involved in setting up schools and other societal initiatives.
Finally, we have the common food aggregator service Swiggy. Its founder Sriharsha Majety built an entirely new category- grocery delivery platform Instamart – from scratch, while also growing the core food delivery business.
Now all eyes are on who will be awarded Indian of the Year 2022 in the start-up category. The winner will be revealed at a star-studded grand finale that will witness the unstoppable drive of Indian start-ups, at the Indian of the Year 2022 award ceremony on Wednesday, October 12, 2022, 6pm onwards, exclusively on CNN-News18.
CNN-News18 Indian of the Year 2022 has RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group as the Presenting Partner and Reliance Industries as the Co-Presenting Partner.
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