SynopsisThe elite jury was chaired by one of India’s brightest next-generation leaders Rishad Premji, executive chairman, Wipro. Members of the jury included Sachin Bansal, cofounder, Flipkart and Navi; Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO, Paytm; Mukesh Bansal, cofounder, Myntra; Mithun Sacheti, cofounder, CaratLane; Nandita Sinha, CEO, Swiggy Instamart; Ajit Mohan, chief business officer, Snap Inc; Irina Ghose, MD, Anthropic India; Paras Chopra, founder, Wingify, Lossfunk; Abhiraj Singh Bhal, cofounder and CEO, Urban Company; and Aryaman Birla, director, Aditya Birla Group.AgenciesETSA jury was particularly delighted with the growing presence of unconventional deeptech ventures aiming to solve global problemsThere are two red-letter days in India’s startup calendar. The first is the night of ET Startup Awards, usually falling in October every year. The second came on Tuesday, August 25, the afternoon when the crème de la crème of India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem debated and decided on who will be the next generation of trailblazers in the ET Startup Awards class of 2026.The elite jury was chaired by one of India’s brightest next-generation leaders Rishad Premji, executive chairman, Wipro. Members of the jury included Sachin Bansal, cofounder, Flipkart and Navi; Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO, Paytm; Mukesh Bansal, cofounder, Myntra; Mithun Sacheti, cofounder, CaratLane; Nandita Sinha, CEO, Swiggy Instamart; Ajit Mohan, chief business officer, Snap Inc; Irina Ghose, MD, Anthropic India; Paras Chopra, founder, Wingify, Lossfunk; Abhiraj Singh Bhal, cofounder and CEO, Urban Company; and Aryaman Birla, director, Aditya Birla Group.ETtech