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We Are Like This Only
India Learns to Start Up
Speakers
In this session, Kunal Shah, Founder of CRED, and Archana Rai, Senior Editor at The Economic Times, will explore the exciting journey of India’s startup ecosystem. They will discuss how consumer practices in India have evolved, from e-commerce to the rapid growth of quick commerce, and how startups are adapting to meet these changing demands. The conversation will also highlight the importance of digital public infrastructure and its role in empowering entrepreneurs and businesses to innovate and scale.
Kunal will share his personal journey of building CRED, offering insights into the emotional highs and lows of being a founder, while Archana will provide her perspective on how Bangalore has emerged as a major tech hub. Together, they will offer practical takeaways for aspiring entrepreneurs, tech enthusiasts, and anyone interested in understanding both the business and emotional challenges of entrepreneurship in India’s digital economy.
A Q&A with the audience will follow.
Speakers
Kunal Shah
Kunal Shah is the founder of CRED, a platform that brings the benefits of high-trust communities to millions of creditworthy individuals, brands, and financial institutions. Five years since inception, CRED processes over a third of India’s credit card payments and is used monthly by >14 million of India’s most affluent. His previous startup, FreeCharge, pioneered online payments in India over a decade ago.
Kunal has advised India’s most influential organisations: the publishers of The Times of India, Pine Labs, and Sequoia Capital India (now Peak XV). He has also served as chairman of the Internet and Mobile Association of India.
Kunal champions India’s economic opportunity globally, with a focus on technology’s role in driving financial well-being, financial literacy and wealth creation. As a philosophy major in the technology sector, he brings a unique perspective to hundreds of founders whom he actively mentors and has invested in.
Archana Rai
In a career spanning three decades (and counting) as a business journalist, Archana Rai has extensively reported on India’s startup and technology sector. From tracking investments made by India’s earliest venture fund,TDICI, to the big-ticket deals of Internet-era heavyweights, she has enjoyed a ringside view of the twists and turns, the highs and lows of technology entrepreneurship during its most consequential years.
Based in Bangalore, she is the Editor-South of The Economic Times and her debut book, The Unicorn Quest was published in November 2023 by Bloomsbury India. And as for Starting Up in India—the best, she’s certain, is yet to come!
