Artificial intelligence (AI) has moved far beyond experimentation. For early-stage startups, the challenge, today, is not simply whether to use AI, but how to deploy it meaningfully to solve defined problems, improve outcomes and create lasting value.At the inaugural edition of the One of a Kind Awards - for early stage startups, an initiative to recognise early-stage startups, presented by The Economic Times and Cashfree Payments, this distinction was recognised through the AI Innovator Award category. The honour was presented at the grand reveal and felicitation ceremony held on August 21, 2026, at Novotel, Bengaluru.The ceremony brought together founders, investors, entrepreneurs and ecosystem leaders to celebrate the inaugural 2026 cohort of startups. The awards have been designed to identify India’s breakout internet-first startups at a critical stage of growth, when new ideas, unconventional business models and category-defining products begin to take shape, but before these companies become household names.The AI Innovator category saw Neuralix.ai emerge as the winner, while NeuralGarage was named the first runner-up and FarmRobo Technologies Pvt. Ltd. secured the second runner-up position.Building for a defined problemNeuralix.ai was recognised for applying AI to complex industrial operations across energy, manufacturing and defence. Its platform brings together engineering, operations and AI, converting fragmented data from sensors, SCADA systems and other sources into actionable intelligence. Using physics-informed machine learning, anomaly detection and digital-twin modelling, the company claims to support predictive maintenance, asset monitoring and more efficient workflows.NeuralGarage resonated for using generative AI to address a familiar challenge in multilingual film, advertising and streaming content: the mismatch between dubbed speech and an actor’s visible lip and facial movements. Its VisualDub platform creates cinematic lip synchronisation while preserving the original performance and visual quality.FarmRobo Technologies Pvt. Ltd. was recognised for applying robotics to some of the most persistent operational challenges in Indian agriculture, including labour shortages, high costs and unsafe manual spraying. Its battery-powered, remote-controlled R1 robot supports tasks such as weeding, spraying and material transport, including in narrow farm rows where conventional tractors may not be suitable.When innovation is the leitmotifThe AI Innovator Award category celebrates startups using AI to solve real-world problems or build fundamentally new product capabilities.For early-stage companies, this distinction is particularly important. AI may reduce the cost and time involved in building technology, but the availability of tools does not by itself create a valuable business. The more consequential question is whether a startup understands the problem it is addressing, and whether its use of AI creates measurable value for users.The category formed part of a wider framework that examined five distinct pillars of early-stage company-building: AI innovation, go-to-market execution, category creation, customer experience and bootstrapped growth. A separate People’s Choice Award recognised the startup that captured the imagination of the wider startup ecosystem through public voting.A rigorous selection processThe selection followed a multi-stage evaluation process. Applications were accepted from April 13 to May 31, 2026, followed by strategic evaluation between May 29 and June 19. Internal research experts assessed factors including GTM innovation, scalability and market traction. Shortlisted startups then presented their business models to the jury of industry architects at a meeting held on June 30.The jury included Animesh Kumar Das, MD undefined Vikram Chachra, venture capitalist, 8i Ventures; Saurabh Garg, entrepreneur, founder and CBO, NoBroker.com; Kanika Agarrwal, partner, India Quotient; and Panneerselvam Madanagopal, CEO, MeitY Startup Hub.Beyond recognitionFor winners and runners-up, the One of a Kind Awards - for early stage startups initiative creates an ecosystem of continued support designed to help early-stage companies strengthen visibility, access and execution. National feature stories and brand spotlights across ET and Cashfree digital platforms can help brands reach customers, partners, talent and investors beyond their immediate networks.The benefits include national exposure through feature stories and brand spotlights across The Economic Times and Cashfree digital platforms, as well as access to a network of investors, founders and builders through the Awards Night ecosystem.Winners also gain access to Cashfree Payments’ infrastructure, including exclusive credits that support brands in their growth journey with advanced payment solutions for internet-first businesses. This support can help companies manage and expand essential functions such as payment collection, settlements, international payments and identity verification as their operations develop.Why the awards matterThe One of a Kind Awards - for early stage startups seeks to address the structural gaps that early-stage startups face by identifying promising internet-first startups while they are still being built. It gives recognition to companies before scale becomes the only evidence of credibility and creates a platform through which that recognition can translate into visibility, infrastructure, partnerships and sustained growth.Presented by The Economic Times and Cashfree Payments, the initiative acts as both a discovery platform and an enabler. It brings promising founders into closer contact with investors, ecosystem leaders and business partners, while giving them access to tools that can support the next stage of execution.