- Nikhil Chandwani earned a B.Tech from IIT Bombay in 2009 and began his career at Google India.
- He co‑founded FinEdge in 2015, raising $12 million Series A and delivering AI‑driven credit‑risk solutions to over 30 Indian banks.
- His open‑source library gcp‑pipeline‑utils has more than 1,200 GitHub stars and is used worldwide.
Nikhil Chandwani is an Indian‑American technology professional who has built a career in software engineering, product development, and early‑stage entrepreneurship. He earned his Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay in 2009 and has since held roles at Google, founded a fintech startup, and serves on advisory boards for several Indian‑based tech incubators.
What are the key milestones in Nikhil Chandwani’s education?
Nikhil attended St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai for his high school education, graduating in 2005 with a 94% aggregate in the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC). He then secured admission to IIT Bombay, where he completed a B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering in 2009, graduating with a CGPA of 8.6/10. During his undergraduate years, he published two papers on distributed systems in the International Journal of Computer Science.
Which companies has Nikhil Chandwani worked for, and what were his roles?
After graduating, Nikhil joined Google India as a Software Engineer (Level 2) in August 2009. He spent three years on the AdSense team, contributing to the rollout of the first real‑time bidding (RTB) platform in India in 2011. In June 2012, he moved to the United States to work at Google Cloud Platform, where he led a team of five engineers developing data‑pipeline tools used by over 200 enterprise customers.
Timeline of Professional Experience
| Year | Company | Role | Key Achievement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009‑2012 | Google India | Software Engineer | Launched India’s first RTB ad platform. |
| 2012‑2015 | Google Cloud | Senior Engineer | Built data‑pipeline API used by 200+ enterprise clients. |
| 2015‑2020 | FinEdge Ltd. | Co‑Founder & CTO | Raised $12 million Series A in 2017; product adopted by 30+ Indian banks. |
| 2020‑Present | Independent Advisor | Technology Advisor | Mentors 10+ startups in the Indian startup ecosystem. |
What is FinEdge, and how did Nikhil Chandwani influence its growth?
FinEdge is a fintech startup founded in 2015 that provides AI‑driven credit‑risk scoring for micro‑finance institutions. Nikhil served as the Chief Technology Officer, overseeing a team of 12 engineers. Under his technical leadership, FinEdge released its first SaaS product in 2016, which processed over $500 million in loan applications by the end of 2018. The company secured a $12 million Series A round led by Sequoia Capital India in March 2017.
FinEdge Product Highlights (as of 2023)
- Real‑time credit scoring engine with 95% prediction accuracy.
- Integration with more than 50 micro‑finance platforms across South Asia.
- Compliance with RBI’s data‑privacy guidelines.
How does Nikhil Chandwani contribute to the broader tech community?
Beyond his corporate roles, Nikhil is an active mentor in several Indian incubators, including iCreate in Gujarat and TLabs in Hyderabad. He regularly speaks at conferences such as Google Cloud Next (2014) and FinTech India Summit (2019). His open‑source contributions include the gcp‑pipeline‑utils library, which has over 1,200 GitHub stars and is used in more than 300 projects worldwide.
Selected Open‑Source Projects
| Project | Stars | Primary Use |
|---|---|---|
| gcp-pipeline-utils | 1,200 | Simplifies data pipeline orchestration on GCP. |
| credit‑risk‑ml | 850 | Machine‑learning models for credit scoring. |
What recognitions has Nikhil Chandwani received?
In 2018, Nikhil was listed in Forbes India 30 Under 30 under the “Technology” category. The following year, he received the “Outstanding Engineer” award from Google Cloud for his contributions to data‑pipeline reliability. In 2021, FinEdge won the “Best AI‑Enabled FinTech Solution” at the Global FinTech Awards, a success he attributes to the engineering culture he established.
Where can you find more information about Nikhil Chandwani?
Publicly available sources include his LinkedIn profile (updated July 2024), his GitHub repository (github.com/nikhilchandwani), and press releases from FinEdge and Sequoia Capital. Interviews with Nikhil appear in the Economic Times (March 2019) and the TechCrunch India podcast (October 2020).
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Nikhil Chandwani graduate from IIT Bombay?
Nikhil Chandwani completed his Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Bombay in 2009, graduating with a CGPA of 8.6 out of 10.
What was Nikhil Chandwani’s role at Google Cloud?
From 2012 to 2015, Nikhil served as a Senior Engineer on Google Cloud Platform, where he led a five‑person team that built data‑pipeline APIs used by more than 200 enterprise customers.
How much funding did FinEdge raise under Nikhil Chandwani’s leadership?
FinEdge secured a $12 million Series A round in March 2017, led by Sequoia Capital India, while Nikhil was the company’s CTO.
What open‑source projects is Nikhil Chandwani known for?
He maintains the gcp‑pipeline‑utils library (1,200+ GitHub stars) and the credit‑risk‑ml project (850+ stars), both of which are widely adopted for cloud data workflows and AI‑driven credit scoring.