Starting today, we showcase the five entrants who are at the very top in each of the eight categories in which the ET Startup Awards 2019 will be presented.

BOOTSTRAP CHAMP

Fit & Glow Healthcare

Founded : 2014
Founders : Manish Chowdhary (in pic), Karan Chowdhary, Arvind Sokke and Ashwin Sokke
Based : Bengaluru and Florida, US
What it does: Sells gentle care and chemical-free brands of cosmetics and beauty products, mostly online. It currently has four brands including WOW, Nutrava, Body Cupid and Shaving Station.


Indusface

Founded: 2012
Founders: Ashish Tandon (in pic), Venkatesh Sundar, Nandini Tandon
Based: Vadodara
What it does: Indusface secures websites and applications from being hacked and helps improve site performance. It offers services on a subscription model to enterprises, and businesses across verticals like banking, financial services, insurance and telecom.

M2P Solutions

Founded: 2014
Founders: Madhusudanan R (in pic), Muthukumar A, Prabhu R
Based: Chennai
What it does: M2P Solutions’ flagship product is YAP, based on the payment-as-a-service model. It helps businesses roll out their own branded products with a specific focus on programme management.

Happyfox

Founded: 2012
Founder: Shalin Jain (in pic)
Based: Irvine, California and Chennai, India
What it does: A cloud-based customer service and support company that sells subscriptionbased products on a monthly and yearly basis. It offers helpdesk ticketing system, live chat software and AI-based chatbots.

Appointy

Founded: 2007
Founders: Nemesh Singh (in pic) and Sarang Verma
Based: Bhopal
What it does: Offers cloud-based scheduling software to businesses, enabling them to automate appointment booking. It also helps businesses improve staff productivity, manage customer reviews, payments, and appointment reminders, apart from running user loyalty programmes.

TOP INNOVATOR

Niramai Health Analytix

Founded: 2016
Founder: Geetha Manjunath, CEO, Nidhi Mathur (right)
Based: Bengaluru
Key investors: Dream Incubator, Beenext, Pi Ventures, Axilor, Binny Bansal
What it does: Niramai has developed a breast cancer screening solution that is non-touch and non-invasive. It uses data analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning over thermography images and has shown success in early detection of breast cancer.

Stellapps Technologies

Founded: 2011
Founder: Ranjith Mukundan (in pic), Ravishankar G Shiroor, Praveen Nale, Ramakrishna Adukuri, Venkatesh Seshasayee
Based: Bengaluru
Key investors: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, IndusAge Partners, Blume Ventures, Binny Bansal, Omnivore Partners
What it does: Stellapps is an end-to-end dairy technology solutions company which uses data analytics to improve parameters in the agricultural supply chain, including milk production, procurement, cold chain, animal insurance and farmer payments.

Tricog Health Services

Founded: 2014
Founder: Charit Bhograj (in pic), Zainul Charbiwala, Udayan Dasgupta, Abhinav Gujjar
Based: Bengaluru
Key investors: SG Innovate, Blume Ventures, Inventus Capital India
What it does: Tricog helps healthcare centres install cloud-based ECG machines and has a centrally located hub where specialists interpret the scans to increase the speed of diagnosis.

Carbon Clean Solutions

Founded: 2011
Founder: Aniruddha Sharma (in pic), Prateek Bumb
Based: London/Mumbai
Key investors (grants): US Department of Energy, UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
What it does: Carbon Clean helps industries including chemical, steel and bio-waste to capture their carbon emissions and reuse it commercially as well as to meet emissions restrictions set by governments.

Zumutor Biologics

Founded: 2013
Founder: Kavita Iyer Rodrigues (in pic)
Based: Boston and Bengaluru
Key investors: Accel Partners, Chiratae Ventures, Arin Capital, KITVEN and Bharat Innovation Fund
What it does: Zumutor is a biotech firm that researches and develops antibodies that can fight cancer, diabetes and autoimmune disorders. Its lead molecule is an antibody to treat prostate cancer.

In the run-up to the ET Startup Awards 2019 jury meeting on July 19, your favourite newspaper will bring you what the jury members expect in a winner. Here are the first two

AMITABH KANT, CEO, NITI AAYOG

India is on the cusp of economic progress and startups are critical to sustain our momentum of 7.5% annual GDP growth over the next decade and building a $10 trillion economy by 2030. Startups that understand India’s unique challenges and opportunities will power this, and solutions that are non-linear, and which scale exponentially, will stand out. Startups that rely on innovation to solve basic needs, around affordable healthcare, housing, financial inclusion and quality education are the ones I am most keen on. I prefer tech-enabled use-case driven startups that can scale up. My key parameters are — impact of the use case or problem being addressed, capability to execute at scale, underlying technology, and commitment of the founding team. I look forward to women-led startups and startups incubated on campus. India needs more such success stories and I’m personally committed to ensuring their success.

DILIP KHANDELWAL, MD OF SAP LABS INDIA

A startup clicks when founders are passionate and the team focuses on its mission despite changing dynamics. I view startups as promising if they solve a specific problem and show a compelling reason for its solution. A startup should have a repeatable product/business model that helps it grow by rapidly capturing new markets and opportunities. To ensure this, tenacity and resilience matter the most.