Manish Shukla

Mad respect for Manish Shukla – this guy is the real deal in the fintech game. So, he’s a YC S23 batch founder, which already sets the vibe – super sharp, super driven. He’s the co-founder and CTO of CheqUPI, a startup that’s basically changing how foreigners and NRIs do UPI in India. Yeah, UPI – that stuff is huge in India, but until Manish jumped in, it was mostly limited to folks with Indian bank accounts and phone numbers. He saw that gap and said, “Nah, we gotta make this accessible for everyone,” and boom, CheqUPI was born.

Manish’s tech creds? Impressive. He’s got an integrated B.Tech and MS from IIIT Hyderabad, one of the top schools in India – graduated in 2016. Before CheqUPI, he was deep in the trenches at Zeta doing software engineering and data science, especially around fraud and risk systems – so dude’s got that hacker mindset, always thinking about security and reliability. He also did stints at Directi as a data scientist and even researched quantum info at Harish-Chandra Research Institute – talk about a diverse background.

What’s wild is, he co-founded CheqUPI with his buddy Sudhanshu Shekhar back in 2021, and their mission was clear: make UPI work for people without Indian phone numbers or bank accounts – like, for NRIs, travelers, expats. Manish led the charge on designing the KYC process that verifies folks via passports, visas, and international phone numbers. Basically, he figured out how to plug into India’s UPI system from outside the usual constraints. That’s some advanced thinking – not just copying the old way but actually re-engineering it for a global audience.

Living in Bengaluru, he’s super passionate about tech solving real-world problems, especially when it comes to financial access for people who’ve been locked out. His process shows he’s not just a coder or investor – he’s a problem-solver, someone who saw a problem and jumped in with both feet. He’s motivated by making things more inclusive, breaking barriers, and using tech to enable folks who need it most.

So, yeah, Manish isn’t just building a fintech startup. He’s rewriting the rules of how money moves in India for foreigners and NRIs, making a huge impact on financial inclusion. That’s why he’s important – because he’s not just chasing profits, he’s changing lives, making the world a little more connected. No Cap.