Digital payments in India have significantly increased since the inception of digital payment systems like Unified Payments Interface (UPI), e-wallets, and mobile banking. For most of the GenZs and millennials, carrying cash has now become cumbersome which eventually led to the birth of digital payments and mobile wallets.
Speaking of the digital transaction platforms, PhonePe has grown up to be one of the major exponents in this sector in India. The company was founded by two ex-flipkart employees – Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari who revolutionized the entire fintech industry with their unique approach.
In this blog, we will tell you about the full success story of PhonePe and its founders.
How Did It Begin?
The seeds of India’s most popular digital payment platform – PhonePe were sown in 2012 when two former Flipkart employees, Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari, came together to launch a music downloading platform – Flyte. They started the venture during their stint in Flipkart. However, the business didn’t go well and they had to shut it down after a while.
As a result, the duo continued working in the e-commerce giant as they were truly convinced by Sachin and Binny Bansal’s (Flipkart founders) vision of building and growing the e-commerce platform by putting customers and technology first.
Later, during one of Flipkart’s Big Billion Days sales, Sameer and Rahul noticed a huge failure in payment systems and gateways. That’s when they realized the need for a trustworthy platform that could make financial services and payments simple. In 2016, Sameer and Rahul successfully launched the PhonePe app with the help of Burzin Engineer.
After Recognizing the immense potential in the company, Flipkart swiftly acquired PhonePe, forging a strategic partnership that would shape the future of digital payments. With Flipkart’s support, Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari began their mission to revolutionize the digital transaction industry.
The founders came up with a groundbreaking concept to use the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), an instant real-time payment system developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
Success of PhonePe
PhonePe provided consumers with a seamless and secure option to make transactions directly from their bank accounts by connecting with UPI. As a result, the app instantly gained popularity due to its simple layout, quick processing speeds, and useful features.
PhonePe has now become a well-known brand in the industry of digital payments. PhonePe’s status as a fintech industry leader was cemented when it developed and extended its services.
Millions of users in India appreciated the platform’s commitment to user empowerment, data privacy, and simplicity. Flipkart and PhonePe announced their complete ownership separation in December 2022.
This move further provided the much-needed freedom to PhonePe to define its own growth path, marking a watershed point in the company’s history. In addition to this, the company also relocated its headquarters from Singapore to India in October 2022.
Growth And Revenue
PhonePe was founded in December 2015 but within a year it was acquired by Flipkart. However, it didn’t affect its growth and instead the company gained even more popularity among the Indian audience. The company has had a remarkable journey so far, reaching a valuation of over $12 billion in 2023.
Back in 2017, PhonePe became the first UPI-based app to reach 10 million downloads, and it has routinely listed among the top finance apps in major app stores. In fact, it had emerged as a market leader in UPI transactions, with 1 million app transactions completed in a single day in 2017.
Not only this, PhonePe also recorded $2 billion in monthly transactions in October 2021 due to its prominence as a digital payments service provider.
