Summary

Upasana Taku, born in Gandhidham, Gujarat and raised in Surat, is an Indian entrepreneur and co-founder of MobiKwik, a leading fintech platform headquartered in Gurgaon. After completing a B.Tech in Industrial Engineering from NIT Jalandhar, she pursued an MS in Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University. She has been instrumental in transforming MobiKwik from a mobile‑recharge services provider into a full‑stack digital payments and financial services provider, including credit, insurance, micro‑loans and merchant solutions.

Personal Information

Major Events Timeline and Achievements

• In 2004-2006, Upasna Taku worked as a business analyst at HSBC (San Diego).
• In 2006-2008, She joined PayPal as a senior product manager.
• In 2008, She returned to India and started working with a non-profit, Drishtee, in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
• In 2009, She co-founded MobiKwik with Bipin Singh in a small apartment in Dwarka.
• In 2011, She launched ZaakPay, a payment gateway by MobiKwik.
• In 2015-2016, One Mobikwik Systems raised successive funding rounds—US$5mn seed, then US $25mn and $50mn Series C.
• In 2018, Taku received an award from the President of India for being the first woman to lead a payments startup.
• In 2019, She was featured in Forbes Asia's Power Businesswomen list for her leadership in the fintech industry and her role in shaping digital payments and financial inclusion in India through MobiKwik.
• In 2024, Mobikwik made its D-street debut.

Challenges & Controversies

In the initial stages of inception, the company struggled to attract funding; it overcame this through staging tangible growth and traction. It also navigated rivalry with Paytm and PhonePe; built user trust via secure, user‑friendly services.