SBI-backed Cashfree Payments appoints CBO, CTO

Payments and API banking solutions fintech firm Cashfree Payments announced the elevation of Arun Tikoo as Chief Business Officer (CBO) and Ramkumar Venkatesan as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). 

Tikoo, who was previously SVP-Business and Strategy at Cashfree, will now handle strategic partnerships, and go-to-market plans, and will be responsible for the company's development and growth, including market penetration and development on a global scale. 

He will also be responsible for strengthening the existing distribution network across industries and overseeing compliance, pricing, and operational setups of new product launches, the company said in a statement.

On the other hand, Venkatesan, who worked as SVP-Engineering, will be responsible for leading the firm’s technology, engineering, and innovation strategies, security, and product development and integration. 

The changes in the leadership team are expected to help the company accelerate its innovation and growth, it said. 

In addition, there have been additional internal promotions across roles in the organisation to support the company's strategic plans.

“We are at an exciting phase of growth and expansion and with the new appointments, I am sure that Ramkumar and Arun will help us in driving this growth at a rapid pace," said Akash Sinha, Co-founder and CEO, Cashfree Payments. "They bring with them a wealth of knowledge, differentiated skills, and experience in the area of innovation, technology, product, and business."

Founded by Akash Sinha and Reeju Datta, Cashfree works with banks to build the core payments and banking infrastructure that powers the company’s products and is also integrated with major platforms such as Shopify, Wix, Paypal, Amazon Pay, Paytm and Google Pay, offering them full-stack payments solutions.

The fintech has built a presence across eight countries, including the US, Canada, and the UAE.

It claims to be processing transactions worth $40 billion annually, enabling more than three lakh businesses with payment collections, vendor payouts, wage payouts, bulk refunds, expense reimbursements, loyalty, and rewards. 

Cashfree is backed by Silicon Valley investor Y Combinator, Apis Partners, and the State Bank of India (SBI), and was incubated by PayPal.