Harshil Mathur

Yo, have you heard of Harshil Mathur? The guy’s the co-founder and CEO of Razorpay, which is basically the backbone of digital payments in India now. Started this thing back in 2014, and man, it’s grown into a massive fintech empire – like, they’re handling billions in transactions, full-stack banking, the whole nine yards.

So here’s the deal – Harshil’s a pretty sharp dude. He went to IIT Roorkee, did his BTech in Software Engineering, and was super involved in tech clubs and SDSLabs, which is like this cool open-source community. The guy’s always been into building stuff from scratch, right? But before jumping into startups, he actually worked at Schlumberger as a Wireline Field Engineer in Mumbai for like nine months. That’s some hardcore engineering gig, but you can tell he’s not afraid to jump into the deep end.

Then, he decided to go all-in on startups. Joined Y Combinator in W15 – which is a pretty big deal – and that’s where Razorpay really started to take shape. No cap, the process was rough at first – over 100 investor rejections, crazy right? But Harshil and his co-founder Shashank kept grinding, refining their model, and staying true to their vision of making payments super simple for Indian businesses. That resilience? That’s what makes him stand out.

What’s crazy is, his whole story screams motivation. Dude went from a tech kid in IIT to working in oilfield engineering, then jumped into the startup world and faced rejection after rejection. But he didn’t stop. He saw a real problem – the pain of managing payments in India – and just went for it. Built Razorpay from scratch with the grit of someone who truly believes in solving real problems, not just chasing shiny tech stuff.

To me, Harshil’s story is about that hustle – about not giving up even when everyone’s telling you no. It’s about taking your skills, your experiences, and your passion, and turning them into something that changes the game. He’s proof that if you stick with your vision and keep pushing, you can build something huge from nothing.

Bottom line? He’s a legit founder who’s all about making a real impact – simplifying business payments for millions and building a massive empire through pure hustle and guts. That’s why he’s a big deal in the startup world.