Top 10 National Startup Award Winners Leading Innovation

National Startup Awards 5.0 has emerged as one of India’s most consequential institutional platforms for recognising startups that blend innovation, scale, impact and societal relevance. Through over 20 award categories, spanning deeptech, fintech, health-tech, Agri innovation, mobility, sustainability and inclusive design, the initiative under Startup India / DPIIT celebrates enterprises that propel India’s innovation economy toward global competitiveness. Winners gain national visibility, cash incentives, investor access and policy hand-holding essential for scaling their impact.

While the official full winners list for 2025-26 is awaited, the following curated profiles represent the top startups and innovation leaders whose achievements embody the excellence that NSA seeks to honour. Many of them are winners or finalists in India’s premier startup award arenas including The Economic Times Startup Awards 2025 making them strong exemplars of the nation’s entrepreneurial impact.

1. Urban Company - Startup of the Year (ETSA 2025)

Urban Company’s trajectory from a local services marketplace to India’s pre-eminent home-services platform is a study in scalable execution. Founded in 2014 by Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Varun Khaitan and Raghav Chandra, Urban Company tackled fragmentation in everyday services cleaning, beauty, repairs and more by bringing reliability, transparency and professionalism to a traditionally informal sector. Its seamless app experience and quality-driven workforce transformation earned it the Startup of the Year title at the Economic Times Startup Awards 2025.

In a competitive landscape that includes Uber-like services in logistics and on-demand repair providers, Urban Company’s consumer trust, retention metrics, and successful expansion into international markets reflect the type of impact the National Startup Awards aim to celebrate. Its model has created jobs at scale and lifted service standards nationwide.

2. Qure.ai - Top Innovator on Health-Tech Front

Qure.ai’s win as Top Innovator at the ET Startup Awards 2025 underscores how AI-powered healthcare tools can democratise access. Founded by Prashant Warier in 2016, Qure.ai leverages artificial intelligence to assist clinicians in diagnosing major global conditions including tuberculosis and lung disorders faster and more accurately.

For NSA categories like Health-Tech Excellence, Qure.ai’s integrated solutions for low-resource settings provide a compelling case of tech meeting public health needs especially important in a country with vast clinical inequality.

3. Minfy Technologies - Bootstrap Champ

Hyderabad-based Minfy Technologies exemplifies sustainable growth without reliance on external funding. Co-founders Vijay and Vivek Jain built Minfy into a trusted cloud transformation specialist, serving sectors from BFSI to manufacturing, while maintaining profitability a rare achievement in India’s services ecosystem. Its recognition as Bootstrap Champ at the ETSA 2025 highlights how disciplined, capital-efficient scaling can be as impactful as venture-backed expansion.

This ethos aligns with the NSA’s Bootstrapped Startup Award category inspiring early-stage founders pursuing resilience over rapid capital-led scaling.

4. Chakr Innovation - Clean Air Through Circular Economy

Chakr Innovation’s Social Enterprise award at ET Startup Awards 2025 showcases how Indian startups are solving multi-dimensional urban problems. Founded in 2016 at IIT-Delhi, Chakr’s Chakr Shield technology retrofits diesel generators to cut particulate pollution by up to 70%, while capturing soot for reuse as usable industrial carbon black.

With sustainability and public health at its core, Chakr is the kind of enterprise that the Circular Economy Innovator Award and Humanitarian Impact Award categories in NSA 5.0 are designed to uplift.

5. Nawgati - Best on Campus, Fueling Mobility Innovation

Nawgati’s recognition in the Best on Campus category at ETSA 2025 captures how student-led startups can transform entrenched sector inefficiencies. Its flagship platform Flow digitises fuel pump operations streamlining customer experiences and improving throughput across more than 13,000 fuel outlets.

For initiatives like the NSA’s NextGen Innovator and Urban Mobility Excellence categories, Nawgati represents youth-powered disruption that delivers measurable operational improvements in traditional industries.

6. Astrome Technologies - Bridging Connectivity Gaps (Indian Innovation Icons 2025)

Though not an NSA list yet, Astrome Technologies was a headline winner at Indian Innovation Icons 2025, a major national innovation celebration. By pioneering high-speed, affordable broadband using advanced millimetre-wave Gigamesh technology, Astrome enables connectivity in remote and underserved regions.

This work resonates strongly with the Make-in-India Excellence and Inclusive Design Excellence categories envisioned in the National Startup Awards. Astrome’s impact spans digital education, healthcare access and economic participation across rural India.

7. Chara Technologies - Sustainable Mobility and Industrial Innovation

Chara Technologies, another Indian Innovation Icons 2025 winner, developed cost-effective, rare-earth-free motors for EV and industrial applications, significantly cutting costs and carbon footprint.

This kind of sustainable industrial innovation lines up with NSA’s Circular Economy Innovator and Urban Mobility Excellence awards amplifying Make-in-India manufacturing and decarbonisation.

8. UrjanovaC - Energy Innovation for India (Avinya ’25 Winner)

Under the national Avinya’25 challenge, part of India Energy Week 2025 platforms - UrjanovaC Private Limited from Mumbai was recognised for its breakthrough work in energy innovation.

For NSA’s Sunrise Sector Startup Award and Sustainability Champion categories which prioritise energy transition, electrification and efficiency, UrjanovaC’s win foreshadows the kind of future-focused innovation that the National Startup Awards will honour officially when results are tallied.

9. Youth Innovators: Student Founders Redefining Impact

Although not formally in the NSA winners list yet, student innovators like 17-year-old Arnav Anupriya Maharshi who won the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2025 for AI-powered rehabilitation devices exemplify the entrepreneurial mindset NSA’s NextGen Innovator category celebrates.

Maharshi’s work, inspired by personal lived experience, is a powerful reminder of how young talent can create high-impact tech solutions for healthcare accessibility setting the stage for future NSA recognition.

10. Early Stage and Regional Trailblazers

While the official winners of NSA 5.0 have not been publicly released category-wise, many respected startups across North-East, Hilly States, Rural Impact and Circular Economy sectors have applied and been shortlisted for recognition. The NSA framework emphasises diversity of origin, with dedicated categories such as Innovation Trailblazers from the North-East and Hilly States and Impact in Rural Areas underlining the government’s commitment to inclusive innovation across geographies and demographics.

Examples include deeptech innovators from emerging ecosystems as well as Agri startups driving regenerative farming and climate tech ventures building low-carbon tools for rural livelihoods.

Why These Winners Matter for India’s Innovation Future

The startups and innovators profiled above embody the core thrusts of India’s startup ecosystem in 2025-26:

Impact and Inclusion

Startups are no longer measured only by valuation. Their socio-economic impact whether through job creation, public health solutions, air quality improvement or rural empowerment drives their recognition across prestigious platforms.

Tech-Enabled Scale

AI, cloud computing, mobility platforms, sustainable industrial tech and connectivity platforms demonstrate how Indian entrepreneurs are building for both domestic demand and global relevance.

Youth and Diversity

The rise of student founders and innovators from diverse regions reflects a maturing ecosystem that rewards merit and mission areas that the National Startup Awards 5.0 structurally incentivise.

Government and Ecosystem Synergy

Initiatives under Startup India/DPIIT including NSA, MAARG mentorship, Seed Fund Scheme and Investor Connect are amplifying systemic support for budding enterprises, helping them cross the chasm from proof-of-concept to scale.

The National Startup Awards 5.0 promises to add a definitive chapter to this narrative when its formal winners are unveiled. For now, the innovators above reveal India’s entrepreneurial spirit at its most dynamic where purpose, performance and impact intersect to shape the future of a Viksit Bharat through homegrown innovation.

Disclaimer: Curated from trusted sources; contact editorial@tice.news for corrections.