ET Startup Awards 2026: Nominees for Comeback Kid – The Economic Times

We are back with the 12th edition of The Economic Times Startup Awards. As we approach the main event, here are the nominees for the Comeback Kid category.

This award celebrates failure and recognises those who have survived to tell the tale. It will be given to entrepreneurs who rebuilt or launched a more successful business.

Here are the nominees:

Company: SolarSquare

ETtech

Founders: Shreya Mishra, Neeraj Jain, Nikhil Nahar

Founded in: 2015

Based in: Mumbai

Key investors: B Capital, Lightspeed, Elevation Capital

What it does: A full-stack residential rooftop solar company, SolarSquare sells and installs home solar systems while helping customers access financing and subsidies. It also provides monitoring, after-sales service and performance guarantees across 20 Indian cities.

Company: Shadowfax

ETtech

Founders: Abhishek Bansal, Vaibhav Khandelwal, Praharsh Chandra, Gaurav Jaithlia

Founded in: 2015

Based in: Bengaluru

Key investors: Publicly listed

What it does: A new-age third-party logistics company, Shadowfax provides express parcel, reverse logistics, and hyperlocal delivery services to ecommerce marketplaces and direct-to-consumer brands.

Company: Scapia

ETtech

Founder: Anil Goteti

Founded in: 2022

Based in: Bengaluru

Key investors: General Catalyst, Peak XV Partners, Z47, Elevation Capital

What it does: A travel fintech platform built around a co-branded credit card, Scapia combines card spending, travel bookings, rewards, UPI transactions, and airport privileges. It earns through bank and network partnerships and bookings made on its app.

Company: Emergent

ETtech

Founder: Mukund Jha

Founded in: 2024

Based in: Bengaluru and San Francisco

Key investors: Creaegis, Khosla Ventures, SoftBank, Lightspeed, Together Fund

What it does: An AI app-building platform for non-technical users and small businesses, Emergent lets customers create web and mobile applications through prompts. Its software handles coding, hosting, deployment, testing, and debugging, with revenue coming from subscriptions.

Company: Pratilipi

ETtech

Founders: Ranjeet Pratap Singh, Sankaranarayanan Devarajan, and Sahradayi Modi

Founded in: 2015

Based in: Bengaluru

Key investors: Jungle Ventures, Krafton, Omidyar Network, Nexus Venture Partners

What it does: An Indian-language storytelling platform, Pratilipi offers free and premium literature, alongside audio, comics, podcasts, and books. It earns by licensing stories for television, streaming, films and short-form video, while sharing revenue with writers.