Wealthtech giant Groww was adjudged Startup of the Year at The Economic Times Startup Awards 2026, capping a remarkable journey from stock-broking disruptor to a $13 billion listed wealth platform. The Bengaluru-based company went public in November 2025 and has scaled rapidly while staying profitable — the combination the jury rewarded.

Speaking to ET after the win, co-founder and chief executive Lalit Keshre said Groww's revenue mix will continue to evolve as its newer businesses scale. Equity derivatives and stock trading accounted for 68.4% of total income in the June quarter, down from 75.7% a year earlier, as newer lines such as margin financing gained share. Credit's share is likely to remain stable, he added.

The growth frontier is wealth. Groww is expanding wealth advisory, bonds and US stock investing — a deliberate diversification away from market-linked trading revenues. Its Rs 961-crore Fisdom acquisition, completed in October 2025 after SEBI approval, added the affluent-customer expertise the platform needs as its existing users grow wealthier and demand more investment products.

"The beauty of our platform is retention," Keshre said, framing the thesis simply: existing customers are becoming wealthier and need more investment products, and Groww wants to be where those products live.

On further acquisitions, he was measured: further deals will depend on synergy. "If we see something good, we will consider it, but we are not actively looking to make acquisitions," he said — a signal that the Fisdom integration, not more M&A, is the near-term priority.

The award lands at a telling moment: Groww is the rare Indian consumer fintech that scaled to IPO without a profitability asterisk, and its pivot from trading-led to wealth-led income is a template other listed startups will be watching closely.

Why it matters for founders

Groww's playbook is the clearest current answer to the question every trading-heavy fintech faces: what comes after the first engine. Build a retention machine on a cheap, high-frequency product, then monetise the same customer base with higher-margin wealth products. And note the award criterion — rapid scaling with profitability. That is the bar public markets and prize juries are now holding for Indian startups.