Happy Friday! We are excited to bring to you the 12th edition of The Economic Times Startup Awards (ETSA). A few days before our esteemed jury convenes to pick the winners, we reveal nominees for the most coveted categories: Startup of the Year and Midas Touch for the best investor.The jury, led by Wipro’s executive chairman Rishad Premji, will meet on August 25 in Bengaluru to pick the winners of ETSA 2026.Read more about our jury members here.Background: Since its launch in 2015, ETSA has grown alongside India’s startup ecosystem, chronicling its defining moments, and now, over a decade later, stands as a record of how far it has come. Several of its winners, including Freshworks, Lenskart, Zomato, Delhivery and Swiggy, have gone on to list publicly, reflecting the remarkable journey of Indian entrepreneurship.And the nominees are…The Startup of the Year award celebrates breakthrough innovation, top-class execution and fast-paced growth, while Midas Touch recognises the most lucrative exit in the year.Startup of the YearPorterSkyroot Aerospace Rapido Meesho Groww Sarvam Read more about the nominees hereMidas TouchShailesh Lakhani Manu Chandra Anu Hariharan Mukesh Bansal Read more about the nominees hereOver the week, we also revealed the nominees for the following categories:Bootstrap ChampTop InnovatorBest on CampusComeback KidWomen AheadSocial EnterpriseChinese visa impact hits Indian physical AI startupsIndian robotics and hardware startups are struggling with China’s growing restrictions on visas for Indian executives, disrupting operations and supply chains.Driving the news:These startups often need to travel to China to meet suppliers and track new developments.Some are looking for suppliers in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, while others are waiting for clarity on visas, founders told us.The restrictions are delaying research and development (R&D), disrupting operations and could cost companies millions of dollars in lost business.Smaller startups with lower order volumes face a bigger challenge in finding alternatives.Automotive parts and electronics companies with strong China links are also being affected.Tell me more: The visa restrictions come as India’s robotics and physical artificial intelligence (AI) sector is gaining momentum. Startups raised $130 million in FY25 and $42 million in the first three months of 2026, with companies such as CynLr also looking to raise funds.At least four founders told us that regular China visits remain important for building supplier relationships and tracking research. Repeated visa rejections in recent months could slow their progress if the restrictions continue.Commercial EV maker Euler Motors invests Rs 100 crore in new four-wheeler facilitySaurav Kumar, founder & CEO, Euler MotorsHero MotoCorp-backed electric commercial vehicle maker Euler Motors has invested around Rs 100 crore to set up a four-wheeler plant in Palwal, Haryana, amid rising demand for electric cargo vehicles.About the facility: The 40-acre plant can make 1,000 four-wheelers a month in one shift and up to 2,000 with extended shifts, giving it an annual capacity of 24,000 vehicles. It will produce Euler’s Turbo EV 1000 one-tonne electric truck and Storm EV.CEOSpeak: “Our four-wheeler sales have grown from around 40 vehicles a month in April 2025 to close to 800 a month now. That is a nearly 20-fold increase in 15 months, and reflects the rapid shift we have seen in the electric commercial vehicle market,” CEO Saurav Kumar said.D2C watch brand Bruno Milano raises Rs 7.5 crore led by Sauce VDirect-to-consumer (D2C) watch brand Bruno Milano has raised Rs 7.5 crore in a round led by Sauce VC, its first external funding since launch.Titan Capital and angel investors, including Unacademy cofounder Roman Saini and Info Edge Ventures partner Kitty Agarwal, also participated in the round.Other Top Stories By Our ReportersZomato pilots food vending machines at workplaces: Eternal-owned Zomato is testing a new model in Gurugram, installing food vending machines at corporate workplaces in partnership with food and restaurant brands, people familiar with the matter told ET.Pharmeasy-parent’s loss narrows in Q1, revenue up 10%: API Holdings, the parent company of Pharmeasy and Thyrocare, reported a narrower loss of Rs 29.6 crore in Q1 FY27 compared with a loss of Rs 145.4 crore a year earlier, according to its investor presentation, as it tightened costs and focussed on debt reduction.Walmart sees Q3 growth hit as Flipkart shifts Big Billion Days sale: Walmart expects growth to face a headwind of over 100 bps in the next quarter due to the timing shift of Flipkart’s flagship sales event, Big Billion Days between Q3 and Q4, the company said during its second quarter results ending on July 31.Global Picks We Are Reading■ Coders say they already found workarounds to Claude’s invisible watermarks (Wired)■ “It’s laughable”: Global AI experts challenge Zuckerberg’s “AI for everyone” (Rest of World)■ For a16z, AI gives foreign founders an advantage (TechCrunch)