Brands
Techugo & Nik Baker’s whip up digital delight
MUMBAI: There’s something cooking, and this time, it’s digital. Nik Baker’s, the beloved premium bakery chain known for transforming north India’s café culture, has teamed up with Techugo, a global technology leader, to craft a seamless digital ecosystem that blends indulgence with innovation.
The partnership aims to deliver a next-generation mobile app and in-store tech experience designed to make every bite smoother, smarter, and more rewarding. The upcoming Nik Baker’s mobile app will allow food lovers to browse exclusive products, place quick orders, receive personalised recommendations, and redeem loyalty rewards, all through a frictionless checkout system supporting multiple payment options.
Inside the cafés, Techugo’s digital solutions will add flavour to convenience. Each table will feature scannable QR codes for instant menu access and ordering, with the system synced in real time with the kitchen and admin panels to ensure quick, accurate service.
Commenting on the collaboration, Techugo COO Ankit Singh said, “We are thrilled to partner with one of north India’s most adored bakery brands. Our goal is to build a scalable, intuitive, and future-ready platform that enhances customer experience while strengthening backend efficiency.”
The initiative also includes an advanced admin dashboard for real-time order tracking, inventory management, and performance insights, ensuring consistency across Nik Baker’s 34 bustling outlets.
By pairing its signature charm with Techugo’s innovation, Nik Baker’s is serving up a fresh recipe for café culture, one where taste meets technology and every order is a little more delightful.
Brands
Rakesh Menon joins Paytm as avp – lending
Fintech product leader takes on new role after building digital lending, payments and credit products across fintech ecosystem
MUMBAI: Rakesh Menon has joined Paytm as assistant vice president – lending, taking on a new role focused on strengthening the company’s lending and credit products.
Prior to this, Menon worked at Profectus Capital Pvt Ltd as chief manager – payments based financing and digital lending.
At Profectus, he designed and launched digital credit products for merchants with variable cash flows, including overdraft-linked and revenue-share lending models. He led end-to-end LOS–LMS API integrations with payment partners and aggregators, enabling real-time underwriting, disbursal and repayment workflows.
He also worked on funnel optimisation initiatives using journey analytics, improving onboarding, KYC and disbursal conversion by 35 per cent. He developed ecosystem partnerships for transaction-data-based credit assessment and automated settlement systems, and collaborated with credit and data science teams to strengthen risk models and early delinquency detection.
Menon standardised partner onboarding and API frameworks, reducing go-live timelines by 40 per cent and improving digital scalability.
Before Profectus Capital, he worked at PayU as senior manager – presales lead – enterprise business from August 2022 to August 2023. He set up a national presales function for fintech and digital commerce clients, aligning solutions such as EMI, BNPL, BBPS and offer engines to merchant requirements.
He also helped improve conversion rates by around 15 per cent through merchant persona mapping, demo frameworks and structured sales playbooks, working closely with product and go-to-market teams.
From April 2019 to July 2022, Menon served as business unit head – SMB – direct acquisitions at Worldline, where he built the SMB online payments vertical from scratch. The business scaled to Rs 2,500 crore in annual transaction volume, growing at 45 per cent year-on-year.
During this period, he introduced paperless onboarding processes including eKYC and eSign, developed partner dashboards and CRM automation systems, and integrated platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce and Tally to expand merchant adoption.
Across roles, Menon has worked across digital lending, payments and merchant financing, with experience in product development, ecosystem partnerships, API integrations and fintech-led growth strategies.
At Paytm, he will focus on scaling lending products and strengthening digital credit infrastructure within the company’s financial services ecosystem.
His appointment comes as fintech firms continue to expand their lending and embedded finance offerings in a competitive market.
