Neeru Sharma co-founded Infibeam in 2007, helping transform it into Infibeam Avenues, one of India's leading fintech companies and the force behind the CCAvenue payment gateway.
From e-commerce pioneer to fintech leader, explore Neeru Sharma’s journey of building Infibeam and transforming it into a publicly listed digital payments powerhouse.
Written by TFN Research Desk | covering startups, technology, venture capital, and business strategy.
Table of Contents
- Who is Neeru Sharma?
- Early Life and Education
- Career Before Infibeam
- How Infibeam Started
- Funding History
- Revenue Growth and Recent Challenges
- Public Recognition
- Infibeam vs Competitors
- Investor Perspective
- Founder Timeline
- Key Takeaways
- FAQs
- Sources
Who is Neeru Sharma?
Neeru Sharma co-founded Infibeam in 2007 alongside Vishal Mehta and Vishwas Patel, helping build it from an early e-commerce marketplace into Infibeam Avenues, one of India’s first publicly listed fintech companies. She currently serves as Co-Founder, Country Head, and Director of the company’s Australia subsidiary. Some details of her biography, including her exact prior employer and the nature of her working relationship with Mehta, vary across public sources; this profile relies on the most consistently corroborated facts.
Early Life and Education
Sharma reportedly joined Maharshi Dayanand University in Rohtak in 1997 to study computer science and engineering, graduating in 2001. She later pursued an MBA in Finance and Strategy at Carnegie Mellon University. Not publicly disclosed is detail on her family background or hometown beyond these education records.
Career Before Infibeam
After graduating, Sharma reportedly worked at Tata Consultancy Services for roughly two years before moving to Alcatel, where she was a product manager involved in India’s early tele-voting reality-show technology. She and Vishal Mehta later worked together on a team evaluating the Indian e-commerce market at Amazon in Seattle, an engagement that directly preceded Infibeam’s founding.
How Infibeam Started
In 2007, Sharma co-founded Infibeam with Vishal Mehta and Vishwas Patel in Ahmedabad, launching it as an online marketplace with initial capital of roughly Rs 10-15 crore. The company acquired Picsquare.com, a personalised photo-printing site, in 2008, before pivoting in 2011 toward software-enabling services for businesses. That pivot, from a consumer e-commerce play into B2B commerce and payments infrastructure, became the foundation for what the company would later scale into: CCAvenue, its payment gateway business.
Funding History
| Round | Year | Amount | Lead Investor(s) |
| Seed | 2007 | ~Rs 10-15 crore | Founders’ own capital |
| Pre-IPO strategic | Pre-2016 | Undisclosed | TV18 Broadcast, Bennett Coleman and Company |
| IPO | March 2016 | ~Rs 450 crore | Public markets (NSE, BSE listing) |
| Rights Issue | 2024-25 | Rs 700 crore | Existing shareholders (1.4x oversubscribed) |
Infibeam became India’s first publicly listed e-commerce and fintech company through its 2016 IPO, priced between Rs 360 and Rs 432 per share. It has since relied on public-market capital, including a fully subscribed rights issue, rather than repeated private venture rounds.
Revenue Growth and Recent Challenges
| Fiscal Year | Revenue | Net Profit |
| FY24 | Rs 3,150.3 crore | Rs 158.1 crore |
| FY25 | Rs 3,992.6 crore | Rs 225.4 crore |
Why this happened: Revenue grew nearly 27% in FY25 as CCAvenue’s transaction processing value crossed Rs 2.4 lakh crore in the fourth quarter alone, helped by 110,000 new merchants added that quarter and an improved net take rate. Profit grew faster than revenue as the company’s regulatory moat, an RBI payment aggregator licence secured in 2022, kept smaller unlicensed rivals out of the market while Infibeam expanded into Saudi Arabia and the broader Gulf region.
Public Recognition
Infibeam has won industry recognition including the Frost & Sullivan India ICT Excellence Award in 2017 and the Online Business Excellence Award at the 2016 World e-Commerce Summit. Sharma has been separately profiled in Indian media as a notable woman entrepreneur in e-commerce.
Infibeam vs Competitors
| Brand | Founded | Latest Revenue | Positioning |
| Infibeam Avenues | 2007 | Rs 3,992.6 crore (FY25) | B2B payment gateway (CCAvenue) and enterprise software |
| Razorpay | 2014 | Not publicly disclosed | Venture-backed payments and banking-as-a-service platform |
| PayU (Prosus) | 2002 | Not publicly disclosed | Global payments platform backed by Prosus |
Infibeam holds roughly an 8% share of India’s digital payments market and ranks among the top three B2B gateway providers, competing on regulatory compliance and enterprise reach rather than venture-funded scale.
Investor Perspective
Sharma’s Amazon experience evaluating the Indian e-commerce opportunity gave the founding team an early, informed read on the market before most competitors existed. Infibeam’s strengths include a hard-won RBI payment aggregator licence and diversified revenue from Middle East expansion. Risks include intensifying competition from well-funded rivals like Razorpay and thinner take rates on large enterprise accounts. If international expansion into Saudi Arabia and the UAE scales as planned, Infibeam’s public-market profitability could compound faster than its venture-backed peers.
Founder Timeline
- 2001 — Graduates with a degree in computer science
- 2007 — Co-founds Infibeam with Vishal Mehta and Vishwas Patel
- 2008 — Acquires Picsquare.com
- 2011 — Pivots toward software-enabling and B2B services
- 2016 — Infibeam lists on NSE and BSE via IPO
- 2018 — Renamed Infibeam Avenues Limited
- 2022 — Receives RBI payment aggregator licence for CCAvenue
- 2025 — FY25 profit rises 43% to Rs 225.4 crore
Key Takeaways
- Sharma’s Amazon stint evaluating India’s e-commerce market gave the founding team a head start most 2007-era Indian startups lacked.
- Pivoting from consumer e-commerce to B2B payments infrastructure in 2011 proved the more durable business.
- Going public in 2016 gave Infibeam a funding path independent of venture capital cycles.
- Securing an RBI payment aggregator licence became a genuine competitive moat against smaller rivals.
- International expansion into the Gulf region is now a meaningful growth lever alongside the core Indian business.
FAQs
Who founded Infibeam?
Vishal Mehta, Vishwas Patel, and Neeru Sharma, in 2007.
Is Infibeam profitable?
Yes, FY25 net profit rose 43% to Rs 225.4 crore on Rs 3,992.6 crore in revenue.
When did Infibeam go public?
March 2016, becoming India’s first listed e-commerce and fintech company.
What is CCAvenue?
Infibeam’s flagship payment gateway, offering over 200 payment options to merchants in India and internationally.
What is Neeru Sharma’s current role?
Co-Founder, Country Head, and Director of Infibeam’s Australia subsidiary.
Sources
- Infibeam by Neeru Sharma: To Infinity and Beyond — Millennial Xpress
- Infibeam Avenues FY25 profit jumps 43% — YourStory
- Infibeam Avenues reports FY24 results — MediaBrief
- Infibeam — Grokipedia
- The Infibeam Avenues Story
- Infibeam Avenues company profile — BusinessABC
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