The most well-known names in the Indian e-payment arena have been Paytm, PhonePay, and GooglePay. Mobikwik, on the other hand, is another e-payment provider that has made significant strides in this arena. Upasana Taku is the key person behind the brand is a woman whose Kashmiri ancestry gave her the will to make a name for herself in society, whose Gujarati college instilled in her an entrepreneurial spirit, unwavering will to succeed, and whose very special Punjabi coming-of-age experience taught her to appear as a fearsome force in the face of adversity. Upasana’s story and work ethic are incredibly motivating for prospective and existing business owners alike. It reveals the primary behind her work addiction.
Name | Upasana Taku |
Founder of | Mobikwik |
Citizenship | Indian |
Age | 42 |
Education | B.Tech in Industrial Engineering (NIT Jalandhar), MS (Stanford University) |
Profession | Entrepreneur |
Spouse | Bipin Preet Singh |
Awards and Recognition | – Best Woman Entrepreneur Award 2017 by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) |
– First Woman to lead a Payment Gateway Company in India | |
– Forbes “Asia’s Women to Watch” (2016) |
Upasana Taku Biography
Upasana completed her secondary education in Surat before enrolling in the reputed National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, to study engineering. She graduated from the university with an engineering degree in industrial engineering. After that. Stanford University in the US is where she received her MS in Management Science and Engineering.
Her qualifications and training brought her to HSBC in San Diego. Taku excelled in her position there. She achieved success in various industries, including forecasting, market research, and marketing and outreach. She joined PayPal at a time when major businessmen were driving change in American commerce. She gained knowledge of payment systems in the Americas, Europe, and Asia while working at PayPal. In addition, she learned about user experience, design, risk identification, and fraud management.
After working hard and excelling in her job, she also realized that she no longer wants to be a corporate drone. She claimed that even though she worked on high-impact projects and earned quite a fortune there, the work was getting too simple and the lack of rigor pushed her to explore other things. She did, however, want to return to India and support the startup scene here.
By 2009, she came back to India. She made many new friends in the subcontinent and gained insight into the hottest industries and unmet needs in the startup and business environment. She claimed that a wallet like PayPal was not well-received in India. Users could never envision a future without currency as a result. The notion to close this gap and fight for the development of technology in the nation came from the example of India.
She met her spouse and fellow firm co-founder Bipin by chance while working on her ideas and project. Through a common connection, she met Bipin and learned that he was keen to contribute to the improvement of the startup ecosystem as well. After six months, Upasana was assisting him in numerous business-related areas. Later, she joined Mobikwik as one of its co-founders.
Upasana Taku and her vision in Transforming the Fintech Industry
Mobikwik is very basic and centered on needs. They initially started the business as a recharge platform, but after a few years, it quickly rose to prominence as the nation’s leading mobile wallet. Taku transformed the industry by introducing the idea of a physical wallet to a mass audience at a period when people were still reliant on physical cash for small sums.
With only six team members in 2011, the team’s growth was prolonged. The home-office market was their main source of income. Taku and Bipin Preet had to work for the company even on their wedding day!
The third round of funding for the Upasana Taku Mobikwik business arrived in 2016. This time, Net1, the GMO payment gateway, Mediatek, Sequoia Capital, and TreeLine Asia raised a minimum of $50 million. This was a tremendous accomplishment for the business because it allowed them to gain widespread recognition in the circuit.
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