BharatPe, Bounce, 34 others win National Startup Awards; 12 jobs per startup created so far: Startup India

Under the Startup India programme, which was unveiled on January 16, 2016, to support innovative startups in the country has recognised over 37,000 startups as of September 30, 2020 while on an average 12 jobs have been created per startup, a report on the National Startup Awards 2020 by Startup India said on Tuesday. The ecosystem has come a long way over the past decade to become the world’s third-largest ecosystem after the US and China with 21 unicorns having a combined valuation of more than $73 billion, as per Hurun Global Unicorn List 2020. India’s 30 states and union territories, in order to enable the local ecosystem, have framed their own startup policy.

“Startups will play a very important role in many strategic sectors going forward. Our budding Startups have innovation & invention & have the spirit of enquiry in their thinking,” Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said in his address at the National Startup Awards. “It is an opportune time for our young boys and girls to move away from being job seekers to become job creators,” he added.

Out of 1,641 applications received by Startup India across 12 sectors, 33 startups were adjudged winners. Nava Design and Innovation, Intello Labs, Mandya Organic Foods, and Cornext Agri Products in Agriculture; Robotguru Education Technologies and Kickhead Softwares in education; Aloe E-Cell and Esyasoft in energy; Unnati Online in enterprise technology; BharatPe in finance; Food Cloud and God’s Own Food Solutions in food; Wellthy Therapeutics, Niramai Health Analytix, Bonayu Lifesciences, and Innaumation Medical Devices in health; Uptimeai Tech, Minionlabs India, Fabheads Automation, Scapic Innovations, Planys Technologies, and Gingermind Technologies in industry 4.0; Staqu Technologies and Lucideus Tech in security; Skyroot Aerospace, Dhruva Space, and Bellatrix Aerospace in space; Fresh Rooms and Highway Delite in tourism; SnPC Machines, Bounce and Sukriti Social Foundation, and Taraltec Solutions in urban services.

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Genrobotic Innovations, Bodhami, Azooka Labs were other three winners in the special categories — campus initiated startup, rural impact startup, women-led startup respectively. Each winner received Rs 5 lakh along with an opportunity to pitch their businesses to the relevant ministries, department and corporates along with priority for participation in international and national events by the government. Villgro Innovations won the award for top incubator while Brigade Real Estate Accelerator Program was declared top accelerator winning Rs 15 lakh.