Sameer Nigam
SN
Mumbai
PhonePe

Sameer Nigam

Two ex-Flipkart engineers built India's largest UPI app while sitting inside someone else's company — then spun out clean.

Platform-thinkingPatient distributionEngineering depth
Struggles

Faced WhatsApp Pay, Google Pay, Paytm — all richer, all earlier. Won on user obsession.

Family

Married. Co-founder Rahul Chari is closest collaborator.

The full story

From day one to today.

The journey

Milestones, not magic.

2009

Founded Mime360 — sold to Flipkart.

2015

Founded PhonePe inside Flipkart.

2018

Spun out, scaled UPI to billions.

2023

Demerged from Flipkart. India's largest UPI player.

Companies & ventures

What Sameer has built.

Wins
  • Built PhonePe into a defining brand from Mumbai.
Setbacks
  • Faced WhatsApp Pay, Google Pay, Paytm — all richer, all earlier. Won on user obsession.
Next journey
Dhiraj Rajaram Mu Sigma
Read journey