Mehul Desai
Mehul Desai has over three decades of experience in FinTech, ICT and related new-economy applications worldwide, focusing on intellectual property, product development, business development, strategy, and international operations.
Mehul has done pioneering work in the field of secure personalized transactions, with focus on finance, retail, healthcare, consumer, and government services, evolving the Digital Wallet, to a Mobile Wallet, to Lifestyle Containers and upcoming Digital Money technologies (DeFi & CBDC).
Mehul founded C-SAM, a global technology-provider for secure mobile commerce and mobile payments, which was acquired by Mastercard Worldwide in 2014. Mehul founded PEaaS, a product-engineering-as-a-service provider, which was acquired by Finablr in 2019. Mehul was on the board of Swych and its first outside investor; Swych was sold to Finablr in 2018. Mehul was on the board of Medici and its first outside investor; Medici was acquired by Prove in 2021.
Mehul is founder and CEO of DeZai. DeZai provides strategic advisory services in the areas of FinTech and Innovation. DeZai provides angel investments to ventures focused on the New Economy. DeZai fosters innovation in the areas of technology, new-economy and social entrepreneurship, thru mentorship, investment, and cross-pollination across sectors and markets.
Mehul is founder and Chairman of Tntra, global innovation infrastructure and ecosystem, with presence in the US, Europe, India / GCC, Singapore and Japan, which provides engineering services, enterprise platform for innovation acceleration and automation, lifelong-learning platform and future-of-work based academy, incubator and ventures fund, all of which leverage a global network of deep domain experts in the areas of FinTech, HealthTech, IoT, Supply Chain and New Economy.
Mehul is an advisor to Strong Force and an expert-in-residence at the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago. Mehul was Group Chief Technology Officer for Finablr, a (formerly LSE listed) global financial services provider for foreign exchange, remittances, and payments. Mehul founded Caspo (IoT/smart-home solution provider focused on empowering the homemaker), Joovo (conversational-commerce based trusted assistant) and Zopus (new-media platform focused on helping authors build communities, foster collaboration, and drive engagement)
Mehul co-authored March of Mobile Money, The Future of Lifestyle Management - which was published by Collins Business in 2010. Mehul authored August of Money, The Quest for Cashless Society - which was published by Let’s Talk Payments in August 2015.
Mehul has over one hundred twenty-five issued patents mainly in the areas of secure financial transactions and IoT. Mehul has been involved with several industry forums focused on developing standards for secure mobile transactions. Mehul often speaks at industry conferences on topics related to FinTech, Cashless Societies and Innovation. Mehul’s other areas of interest include Knowledge Methodologies & Knowledge Cities, New Education Models, New Representative Models, Use of ICT in Delivery of Public Services and Food Security.
Mehul and the DeZai Foundation support several non-profit initiatives, including the Global Foodbanking Network, ChildFund International and Global Giving.
Mehul holds a B.S. in Telecommunication Engineering and a M.S. in Engineering Management.
Media
October 2022
Mehul Desai’s rockstar formative years destroy his ego
Story in Motion - Exploring Who You Are and Why It Matters
Part 1 (Memory) - Jeremy and Mehul decide to question time and failure while embracing loved ones of the past.
October 2022
Mehul Desai’s rockstar formative years destroy his ego
Story in Motion - Exploring Who You Are and Why It Matters
Part 2 (Memory) - Jeremy and Mehul decide to question time and failure while embracing loved ones of the past.
17th March 2023
Building Software for a Better Future: The Tntra Approach
The Tntra Podcast Mehul Desai
Listen to the exciting podcast where Business Ninja Mehul Desai, Co-founder and Chairman of Tntra, and host Max Pittman, uncover how Tntra can help bridge your goals and aspirations to an ambitious project.
9th January 2024
AI: Are We There Yet? AI Podcast
Episode 6 • The Tntra Podcast • Mehul Desai
The sixth episode of the Tntra podcast brings Aditya Khurjekar, Founder of xign.ai, who shares his insights into the historical evolution of AI, its contemporary mainstream implications, and future trajectories.
4th May 2023
Products: The Second of the Three Ps' of Intellectual Property - Pro...
Episode 5 • The Tntra Podcast • Mehul Desai
In this podcast, Mehul Desai, Co-Founder and Chairman of Tntra, talks to Elle about the second P of Intellectual Property, i.e., Product.
10th October 2022
Patents: The First of the Three P's of Intellectual Property...
Episode 4 • The Tntra Podcast • Mehul Desai
In 4th episode, Mehul Desai, Co-founder and Chairman of Tntra, is in conversation with Charles Cella, the Managing Director of Strong Force Innovation Portfolios
9th June 2022
The Holy Grail of FinTech - IndiaStack and Beyond
Episode 3 • The Tntra Podcast • Mehul Desai
In this episode, Mehul Desai, the Chairman and Co-founder of Tntra, is in conversation with Mr. Dilip Asbe, MD & CEO of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India.
26th May 2022
The Holy Grail of FinTech
Episode 2 • The Tntra Podcast • Mehul Desai
In this episode, Mehul Desai, the Chairman and Co-founder of Tntra, provides his valuable insights garnered through 3 decades of experience in FinTech. He has seen it all - from the initial mobile wallets to the on-going transitions in the form of Blockchain and CBDC.
26th May 2022
Innovation and Societal Progress with Bruce Mau
Episode 1 • The Tntra Podcast • Mehul Desai
In this episode, Mehul talks with Bruce Mau, the Co-founder and CEO of Massive Change Network. They discuss their experience and insights on sustainable innovation and how it contributes to societal progress
Tntra brings over two decades of global experience in software product engineering and IT services, process re-engineering and digital transformation, innovation and entrepreneurship.
Tntra and Seed Group Announce Partnership to deliver Sustainable Innovation across critical industries in UAE/GCC/MENA
Tntra and Seed Group to deliver digital transformation, new economy and future-of-work solutions, to enterprises, universities and government agencies.
Product Engineering - as - a - Service
Enable companies engaged in software development build captive product development and deployment teams.
Enable organizations and enterprises - their customers and partners - to embrace and leverage the new Cashless world
Drive mobile commerce and mobile payment adoption thru proliferation of mobile wallets for consumers, enterprises and government.
The consumer needs to get on the subway, buy coffee(and gum), get the newspaper, pay into the office pool, order lunch, pay the guy who paid for lunch, get groceries, pickup the great deal at the shoe shop on the way home, take the kids to the dentist; with all the intelligence; in the phone and the cloud, and everything in-between, why do we still have to keep going to the applications rather than the applications coming to us
Building a global new-economy community to drive secure transactions and financial wellbeing.
Patents
Testimonials
Aditya Khurjekar
CEO & Founder, LetsTalkPayments & Medici
I have had the pleasure of working with Mehul Desai for almost 10 years in various capacities, and he is by far the most balanced, thoughtful and versatile person I have known.
Mehul's technology at C-SAM was instrumental in powering the core experience for the world's first ever multi-carrier joint mobile wallet offering, that eventually led to today's Apple Pay or Samsung Pay experience. He took the company from vision to exit with relentless engagement with a vast multitude of stakeholders around the world over several decades. This perseverance and ability to look at the big picture even while getting the individual deals done is a testament to his pioneering spirit.
Over the last few years, Mehul has provided us the bedrock of support in growing LTP to become the premier digital destination for FinTech globally. He envisioned the MEDICI platform as a way to promote collaborative innovation in FinTech, and the results of that endeavor are apparent today as MEDICI has become the industry's knowledge network. In fact, he saw the potential for this nascent industry even before it was called FinTech.
Joseph Hurley
Payments Executive
I have worked closely with Mehul Desai in his role as a CEO, as a business colleague and as a mentor for many years. Mehul brings his amazing engineering skills and intersects it with outstanding business skills. He is a true professional. Mehul knows and understands the IoT world better than most. He has built mobile wallets, filed complex patent webs around them and understands how to take technology to market and actually implement real money making products and services. Mehul also works as an advisor to a significant number of tech start ups. They seek him out for his knowledge of how to move from incubation to market implementation. Mehul is trustworthy, smart and extremely capable.
Haluk Kulin
Senior Vice President, Strategy & Data, Freeman
Mehul provides deep experience and real insights to navigate the challenges of establishing funding, design new product, scaling resources and driving a relevant market strategy for growth. His combination of business and human acumen has deeply impacted our ability to have the right discussions and define the actions that drive impact.
Atsushi Taira
Representative Director, Chief Growth Officer, MistleToe Japan
It's been always great to work with Mehul since we met first time more than 7 years back. Mehul is a seasoned serial entrepreneur, innovator and thought leader on ICT, mobile, secure transactions, and advanced engineering. Im always enjoying the discussions with Mehul for ideas for the future as well as very detail practical issues. It is his rare talent to be humble as an entrepreneur while he is always thinking about the deep thoughts to keep on innovating the industries. I really look forward to his next journey and challenges.
Patrick Whitney
Steelcase / Robert C Pew Professor, Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology
First attempts to create products and services based on emerging technologies will fail. Failure is common because, while executives can envisage the functional benefits of a new technology, they invariably rely on frameworks from the past to imagine how those functional benefits will be applied. They are racing forward while looking backwards. Mehul Desai has first hand experience in inventing technology, understanding how it is relevant to future uses, and turning this understanding into a viable business. He helps organizations look forward.
Y. Sudhir Kumar Shetty
President, UAEX Exchange
I have known Mehul Desai for 15 years now. He has always come across as an energetic and innovative thinker, with a zeal to push the limit and good risk appetite. At a very young age he has achieved a lot with his immense knowledge, commitment to work and dedication to purpose.
Mehul partnered Sam Pitroda for not just co-founding CSAM, a technology service provider in telecom and mobile wallet segments, but also in co-authoring the book March of Mobile Money. He later authored the insightful August of Money The Quest for Cashless Society. These books on money matters with rich insights into the finance and investment were well received, earning acclaim from various quarters.
Mehul with his out-of-the-box thinking, fresh perspectives and a passion for excellence, will challenge your own approach. His constructive critiquing helps those around him to relook at what they are doing rather objectively. This on-the-toes-thinker is quick to extend his ideas and solutions to those in need.
Values, Creativity & Service
The Desai Family traces its lineage back to the 1800s.
My great-great-grandfather, Bhanabhai Khushalbhai Desai, was an eminent lawyer with a reputed and flourishing legal practice in the western state of Gujarat, India. The photograph above is from the 1940s of the South-Gujarat legal bench. The photograph was taken outside the courthouse and has three generations of lawyers from the Desai Family captured in a single frame - Bhanabhai Desai (my great-great-grandfather) seated in the first row, Maganlal Desai (my great-grandfather) in the middle row and Sumantrai Desai (my grandfather) in the top row.
My grandfather, Sumantrai Desai, in addition to being a highly respected lawyer and social worker, was also a freedom-fighter. He joined Mahatma Gandhi’s movement to help India win independence from the British in 1947, and continued to fight for the rights of the downtrodden, building his legal career on a reputation for taking up cases against all kinds of oppression - social, financial and political. Sumantrai Desai strengthened the family base, and inculcated by personal example emphasis on education, high level of professionalism, and selflessly working towards the well-being of the community. Sumantrai Desai's core values, many social works, and legacy continue to guide the Desai Family, which is now spread around the world.
My father, Dilip Desai , went from India to the US in the 1960s, got a PhD in chemistry, and established the family's base in the US. His younger brother, Mahesh Desai, is an ophthalmologist; he practiced medicine in the UK for several years and is now settled in India. Their youngest brother, Vikram Desai, is an engineer and lives in the US. Dilip Desai moved back to India in the late 70s, and has spent the last ~40 years doing grass-root level social work, focusing on health, vocational training, and women empowerment, helping build an internationally acclaimed NGO in rural India. Dilip Desai is deeply influenced by Swami Vivekananda's "Man-making Religion" and pursuit of Salvation through the Service of Mankind".
I feel privileged to be part of such an exemplary family. DeZai will strive to imbibe and amplify all the good from the Desai Family lineage, with the hope that the generations of Desais to come can leverage and help preserve the same.
DeZai will strive to create a sustainable platform that will preserve and promote the Desai Family Values centered around individual character building and selfless Service to the community; this platform will balance family ownership and oversight, with professional management; this platform will be well entrenched in the knowledge-age; this platform will strive to scale and operate at a global level.
DeZai is focused on three different set of activities - providing strategic advisory services, setting up new-economy ventures and supporting philanthropic activities.
DeZai provides strategic advisory services in the areas of FinTech, Cashless Societies and Sustainable Innovation. DeZai provides angel investments to ventures focused on the New Economy. DeZai fosters innovation in the areas of technology, new economy and social entrepreneurship, thru mentorship, investment, and cross-pollination across sectors and markets. DeZai's current activities are largely centered around the ICT or Information and Communications Technology domain, based on the last thirty plus years of experience developing intellectual property, products, and businesses, and, based on exposure across developed and developing markets worldwide.
DeZai Foundation supports registered charities and not-for-profit organizations that are focused (primarily) on causes related to Food Safety, Child Development & Wellbeing, and Vocational Training for the Underserved. DeZai will leverage its foundation of core Desai Family Values to nurture Creativity of all kinds to sustain and scale the platform, to Serve humanity, and to act as a pathway for spiritual upliftment.
DeZai will engage with collaborators and partners around the world - individuals, companies, and civil society - that can benefit from DeZai’s capabilities, and provide DeZai with the ability to further its three core objectives.