Sameer Nigam, Founder of PhonePe

The concentration of today’s world is on comfort and ease. Carrying cash has become unnecessary with the advent of digital payment solutions and mobile wallets. Mobile applications are used for various transactions, including paying for groceries, utilities, phone recharges, etc. A payment software called PhonePe has made life simpler for millions of Indians. Another way to transact instantly with money is using PhonePe. But have you ever considered the creator of the excellent program PhonePe? We will discuss Sameer Nigam, the creator of PhonePe, in this article. His innovative idea revolutionized the market.

Sameer Nigam: Who is he?

In 2015, Indian entrepreneur Sameer Nigam launched PhonePe, a UPI-based online payment system, and is currently the company’s CEO. He was previously the Senior Vice President of Engineering at Flipkart. In 2009, he founded his first business, Mime360, which links content owners and providers. The Economic Times ranked him among the top 40 Indian corporate leaders under forty. As of 2017, his net worth was 17.7 crore rupees.

Currently, Sameer Nigam resides in Bangalore, Karnataka. He travelled from Noida to Mumbai and then to Bangalore, the location of the PhonePe headquarters. The Indian government unveiled its demonetization drive the same year PhonePe was launched.

Sameer Nigam’s Education

Sameer attended DPS in Noida for his education. He earned a degree in computer engineering from the University of Mumbai. At the University of Arizona, he pursued a Master of Science in Computer Engineering (1991-2001). Later, he graduated with a Master of Business Administration in Entrepreneurship from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (2007-2009).

Journey in the Workplace

Sameer served as Shopzilla’s Director of Search Product Development from May 2001 to June 2007. His own business, Mime360, a platform for social media dissemination that he founded in 2009, was later acquired by Flipkart.

He worked with Flipkart from October 2011 to August 2015. He worked for the vast e-commerce company in various capacities, including advertising and engineering, as a Vice President and Senior Vice President. He also launched the digital wallet service PhonePe in 2015; he currently serves as its CEO.

He has a wealth of expertise in managing teams, using digital marketing, providing non-medical home care, generating leads, using SEO, developing strategies, and using mobile apps, mobile advertising, and online advertising.

Founder of Mime360

Sameer’s first business, Mime360 (Mallers Incorporation), a Mumbai, India-based internet media channel, was launched in 2009. The company provides a platform for trade that links content publishers like Saregama and Indiatimes with copyright holders that possess content.

By eliminating piracy and enabling many publishers to sell authorized content abroad, API Feeds contribute to Mime’s security. Most notably, Mime enables content owners to select local pricing and avoids different infrastructure costs for partners, including local centre bandwidth, archiving of content and content administration.

Later, Flipkart bought Mime360. The e-commerce behemoth has been attempting to acquire small firms to increase its staff. Following the acquisition, several Mime employees joined Flipkart to eventually develop a service for distributing digital music.

The Creator Of PhonePe

Sameer established the Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based company PhonePe in December 2015. He gives strategic marketing and other guidance while sitting on the board of directors for the business.

Sameer proposed the idea of developing a UPI-based online payment system with his friends, Rahul Chari and Burzin Engineer. In August 2016, the PhonePe application became operational. It is currently available in around 11 different Indian languages for users.

List of Honors and Awards

He was given the Wharton Venture Award by the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania in 2008. On November 5, 2019, he went to the 16th NASSCOM Product Conclave in Bangalore, Karnataka, India, and Asia. He delivered a speech at Money 20/20 Asia 2019 at Central Region, Singapore, Asia, on March 19, 2019. His business, PhonePe, has won numerous accolades, including:

• PhonePe received recognition from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for generating the most merchant transactions on the UPI network. (2018)
• At 2018 IAMAI India Digital Awards, it received the best mobile payment product or service prize.
• PhonePe received the SuperStartUp Asia Award in 2018, the UPI Digital Innovation Award from NPCI, and the Telecom and Technology category victory at the India Advertising Awards in 2018. (2018)
• It won the Best Mobile Payment Product or Service category at the IAMAI’s 9th India Digital Awards in 2019.
• As the Best Digital Wallet initiative, it was recognised at the 8th annual Indian Retail & e Retail Awards in 2019 by Zee Business and The Economic Times.