Sony is a serial entrepreneur who founded multiple startups in the telecom & fintech space. His first startup MOBME was founded while he was half way into his engineering degree back in 2006. MOBME monetised a bouquet of B2B & B2B2C products in the telecom space, creating employment for hundreds.
His last startup Chillr, founded in 2013, was funded by Sequoia, Blume & Uniqorn. Chillr was the pioneer in seamless inter-bank mobile payments years before UPI & during this stint, he worked closely with numerous banks including the likes of HDFC Bank, Bank of Baroda etc.
In 2018 Chillr was acquired by Swedish HQ Caller ID app Truecaller, post which he has been heading Truecaller's fintech arm. More recently, he took responsibility of building the Enterprise Business vertical for Truecaller from the ground up. It's now an extremely fast growing business unit that's operating like a full fledged SaaS company and is focused on making business communication safe & efficient. The division already boasts of hundreds of active clients across BFSI, Fintech, EdTech, Healthcare, Automotive etc and is becoming an indispensable tool for businesses that rely on telephones as a communication channel.
Key Takeaways
- Sony shares his entrepreneurial journey founding MobME with friends in college and innovations they brought in the telecom and banking industry
- The insightful Chillr story including its founding, Series A fundraising, and strategic reasons behind selling the business to Truecaller
- Some of the biggest lessons from Chillr and how Sony managed the Truecaller acquisition process
- Why growth is the key for a successful fundraise for any startup
- Why you should be prepared to spend a significant amount of your life(7-10 years) when you decide to build a startup
- Major trends in fintech especially credit and why financial data is the key to building inclusive products and services
