Many students aim to crack JEE to get admission into prestigious IIT colleges in India. They usually get hired for high-paying jobs in top companies. However, many students quit their colleges for other opportunities. Many of them, also become successful in life. This article tells you the story of Shashvat Nakrani, co-founder and COO of BharatPe, a fintech company.
Nakrani co-founded the company in 2018 along with Ashneer Grover. Born in Bhavnagar (Gujarat) Nakrani, co-founded the company when he was just 19. He was in his third year at IIT-Delhi when he decided to drop out of the college. He was pursuing a bachelor's degree in Textile Technology at IIT Delhi when he recognized the business opportunity for a payment gateway.
The 26-year-old has a net worth of Rs 1300 crore, as per the 2024 Hurun India Rich List. Nakrani was the youngest person who made it to the IIFL Wealth Hurun Indian Rich List in 2021. He is among the self-made billionaires.
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Nakrani identified the presence of a payment gateway that was accessible to merchants that did not cut into their margins. To develop a payment gateway that fulfilled these requirements, he made use of the interoperability feature of the Unified Payment Interface (UPI). This is how BharatPe came into existence. The company had last raised USD 370 million in funding in 2021 at a valuation of USD 2.9 billion (around Rs 24335 crore today).
