Phanindra Sama is the founder and former CEO of India’s biggest online ticket booking platform RedBus.in & Pilani Soft Labs Pvt Ltd. Currently, he is the Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) of Govt. of Telangana. He started Redbus back in August 2006 and worked there as CEO of the company for almost eight years. And on June 21, 2013, Redbus was acquired by ibibo Group. Now he has become an Angel Investor and is connected with other organizations.
Early Life & Education
Phanindra Sama was a very bright student from the very beginning. He got his place at Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani where he studied Electrical and Electronics engineering and became an engineer with 9+ CGPA. He also became good at photography as he was part of a photography club in college and became the Head of DOPy in 4th year.
After that, he started studying in Indian Institute of Science and became proficient at computer networks. He was also connected with the Swedish Institute to learn management, leadership, and sustainable business practices. Then he studied at Stanford University on Economics, Social Psychology. Then he got Chevening Standard Chartered Financial Services Fellowship at King’s College London.
Career & Success Story Of RedBus
Back in 2005-06 Phanindra Sama used to travel a lot by bus. One day he missed a bus, and that’s how the idea of Redbus came into his mind. He found a solution to this problem and Redbus born as a result which now bridges the gap between the bus and the travelers. Phanindra Sama considers himself an accidental entrepreneur. He stated this in an interview by YourStory.
He started doing a job at ST Microelectronics as a Design Engineer, and two years later, he moved to another company called Texas Instruments and worked there as a Senior Design Engineer.
During doing his job at Texas Instruments, he felt the requirement of an online bus ticket booking platform from his bad experience of missing a bus one day. Soon he started executing his plans and founded India’s most popular and most extensive online bus ticket booking platform RedBus and worked in his own company as the Chief Executing Officer (CEO). After that, Phanindra Sama exited from the company as ibibo Group acquired RedBus. Now he is active as Chief Innovation Officer and working for the Government of Telangana. He is also an angel investor now, and he invests in small startups that he believes in.
Achievements
Phanindra Sama has made lots of performances. He became successful in creating India’s largest bus ticket booking platform. Sarma also took action to make RedBus a successful company. And finally, he was also able to exit from his own company by selling the majority stake to the ibibo group. Now he is also a successful angel investor, and also he is helping the Government of Telangana as the Chief Innovation Officer.
Personal Life, Net Worth, Family
Phanindra Sama is pretty private about his own life. The name of his wife is also unknown. But his marriage was an arranged marriage, and he is now spending more time with his family after selling RedBus to ibibo Group. According to an article on Business Standard, his net worth is around $110 million, which is approximately Rs 590-650 Crore in Indian currency.