ET Startup Awards: Nominees for CEO of the Year

This year, a new category ‘CEO of the Year’ has been included in the ET Startup Awards, in recognition of the deepening maturity of India’s startup ecosystem — ranked among the top three worldwide. The winner — either a founder or professional executive helming a high growth firm — should have demonstrated strategic decision making and execution skills to steer their ventures through challenges and various vagaries of building a new-age technology business.

Amrish Rau

Company: Pine Labs

CEO’s Achievements: Since taking over as CEO, Amrish Rau has transformed Pine Labs, which was just a point-of-sale provider, into a full-stack digital payments firm. The company’s valuation has grown over threefold since he joined Pine Labs. Rau has IPO plans for the firm but those are on hold amid choppy market conditions globally.

Kalyan Krishnamurthy

Company: Flipkart Group

CEO’s Achievements: Kalyan Krishnamurthy has steered Flipkart through multiple crises and has been in firm control of the ecommerce firm since the Walmart acquisition in 2018. He has now taken Flipkart to new categories, including travel, epharmacy and social commerce, while maintaining its lead in core categories against rival Amazon India.

Hari Menon

Company: BigBasket

CEO’s Achievements: Hari Menon has ensured BigBasket remains in pole position in the online grocery market amid tough competition from Flipkart, Amazon and even Zepto with its ultra-fast delivery. Now owned by Tata Digital, BigBasket is scaling up further, with annual growth of around 40% and sales projections of $1.5 billion in FY23.

Sahil Barua

Company: Delhivery

CEO’s Achievements: After building Delhivery over a decade, Sahil Barua took the company public when markets were volatile. Delhivery still made a good debut on the bourses with its stock price holding up to its issue price compared to other new-age peers. Delhivery continues to focus one commerce deliveries but Barua is expanding its B2B offerings.

Falguni Nayar

Company: Nykaa

CEO’s Achievements: Falguni Nayar took Nykaa public as a profitable ecommerce firm — a rare feat among ecommerce firms. She built Nykaa frugally, raising only $78 million in private capital for nearly a decade, retaining majority control. She is now taking Nykaa international through partnerships while growing the core business in India.

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