MobiKwik Recharges its Board, Appoints 4 Distinguished Independent Directors

MobiKwik, India’s leading mobile wallet and Buy Now Pay Later platform, strengthens its Board of Directors with the induction of four highly reputed independent directors. Following up on the much-heralded filing of the Draft Red Herring Prospectus with SEBI on 12th July 2021, the appointment of an experienced and robust Board takes the company one step closer to being the first fintech company to list in India. The appointments include experienced investment professional and former Senior MD of Blackstone and Oppenheimer Dr. Punita Kumar Sinha, accomplished diplomat and the former Ambassador of India to Egypt and UAE Navdeep Singh Suri, fintech entrepreneur and co-founder of PaySense Sayali Karanjkar and Chief Technology Officer of LinkedIn Raghu Ram Hiremagalur .

Speaking at the announcement, Bipin Preet Singh, MD, CEO & Co-founder, MobiKwik said, “When we started MobiKwik, we had an unwavering vision to leverage technology and make Digital Payments accessible to all of India. We have come a long way since then, earning the trust of over 108 million users and 3.4 million merchants. Today, we at MobiKwik are hungrier than ever our mission of financial inclusion and are confident that our interest free ‘Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) offering – MobiKwik Zip’ is ideal to democratise access to credit for Bharat.

As a company, we stand on the precipice of a monumental milestone - an Initial Public Offering in India. It is of utmost importance that the Board believe in our journey, our people, and our vision over the next decade and more. In my extensive conversations with Punita, Navdeep, Sayali and Raghu, I have found a harmony in their beliefs and MobiKwik’s vision. I see this as being foundational as we head into our next phase as a publicly listed company. The holistic expertise of our new Board members in our sector, public policy, technology and business will provide an added thrust to MobiKwik’s strategic direction.”

MobiKwik is currently on the road to an IPO and has filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus with SEBI.  The company is profitable at the segment level across all 3 segments, and has seen a revenue growth (CAGR) of 37% in the last 2 years (FY19-21)

Brief Profile on Appointed Independent Directors;

Dr. Punita Kumar Sinha comes with over three decades of experience of investment management in emerging and international markets. She is the Founder and Managing Partner at Pacific Paradigm Advisors, an independent investment advisory and management firm focused on Asia. Prior to this, she was a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone and the Chief Investment Officer of Blackstone Asia Advisors. Previously, she has also worked at Oppenheimer, Legg Mason and IFC. 

Ambasaador Navdeep Singh Suri has had a distinguished 36-year long career in the Indian Foreign Service. He has served in India’s diplomatic missions in Cairo, Damascus, Washington, Dar es Salaam and London. He was India’s Consul General in Johannesburg, High Commissioner to Australia and Ambassador to Egypt and the UAE. He also headed West Africa and Public Diplomacy departments in India’s Ministry of External Affairs. He a is Distinguished Fellow and Director of the Centre for New Economic Diplomacy and has led programmes in Morocco, Kigali and Dhaka 

Sayali Karanjkar was the Co-Founder & CBO of Fintech startup PaySense, which was acquired by Naspers backed PayU in 2020. Prior to that, she Co-Founded Outsy, a local discovery platform showcasing fun and interesting activities across a variety of entertainment and lifestyle categories. Previously, she has spearheaded Business Development at Final Mile Consulting Sayali has also worked in at A.T. Kearney and AT&T

Raghu Ram Hiremagalur is currently the Chief Technology Officer and Vice President - Engineering at LinkedIn. Prior to LinkedIn, Raghu was the Chief Technology Officer at Zynga. He has 16+ years of experience in technology roles with leading Silicon Valley companies, including LinkedIn and with Paypal.