नेपाली
Kathmandu, A Nepali fintech company is now competing on a global stage against one of the world’s biggest technology platforms.
Fonepay Payment Service Limited has been shortlisted for the “Best Digital Public Infrastructure” award at the Global Fintech Awards 2026, where it will compete alongside WhatsApp and five other organizations.
The official shortlist published by the Global Fintech Awards confirms seven finalists in the category:
- Verismart.ai
- Fonepay Payment Service Limited
- National E-Governance Services Limited
- Leegality
- Protean eGov Technologies Ltd.
- Protean CRA
The award recognises innovation, efficiency and transformative impact in building digital infrastructure that improves connectivity and accessibility.
Why is Fonepay in the race?
Fonepay is not simply being recognised as a payment app. Its stronger argument is its role as interoperable digital payment infrastructure connecting banks, financial institutions, merchants and consumers across Nepal.
According to Fonepay, its network currently connects 60+ partners, more than 20 million registered customers and over 1.2 million merchants. Its infrastructure supports real-time payments through mobile banking and QR-based transactions.
That scale matters because the award’s judging framework places equal weight on innovation, uniqueness, scalability/global outlook, customer impact and revenue or cost-saving potential.
Fonepay also has an increasingly international angle. The company has been developing cross-border payment connectivity with NPCI International in India and LankaPay in Sri Lanka, strengthening its case that its infrastructure can extend beyond Nepal.
But WhatsApp is a serious competitor
There is an interesting twist here.
WhatsApp won the same “Best Digital Public Infrastructure” award in 2025. That gives Meta’s platform an obvious advantage in terms of previous recognition from the same awards programme.
WhatsApp also has enormous global reach and an established digital ecosystem. On the criteria of scale, accessibility and global outlook, it is difficult for any Nepal-based company to compete purely on size.
But this category is not simply a popularity contest.
The organisers explicitly score entries on innovation and uniqueness, as well as scalability and customer impact.
That could create an opening for Fonepay.
Who could win?
WhatsApp, slight favorite
Based purely on the publicly available information, WhatsApp would be my current favorite, but not by a huge margin.
Why?
- Global scale:
WhatsApp operates at a completely different international scale. That directly strengthens its case under the award’s “Scalable/Global Outlook” criterion. - Proven track record:
WhatsApp already won this category in 2025, giving it a strong precedent with the same awards programme. - Strong accessibility:
Its enormous existing user base makes adoption and reach a powerful part of its story.
Fonepay, the potential dark horse
Fonepay could nevertheless produce one of the most compelling cases in the category. Its strongest argument is not competing with WhatsApp on global user numbers. Instead, Fonepay can argue that it has built real financial infrastructure at national scale connecting banks, merchants and consumers through an interoperable payment network. That gives Fonepay a particularly strong story on customer impact and infrastructure transformation.
And because the judges assign 20% each to innovation, unique proposition, scalability/global outlook, customer impact and revenue/cost-saving potential, a highly focused infrastructure case could potentially offset its disadvantage in global scale.
The bigger story for Nepal
Regardless of who wins, Fonepay’s shortlist is significant.
A Nepali payment infrastructure company is now sitting alongside WhatsApp and other international fintech and technology organisations in a global award category.
And there is another important detail: the Global Fintech Awards are not an obscure internal company award. The 2026 programme describes itself as the fifth edition of the awards and includes global fintech companies, financial institutions and technology innovators.
The winner will be announced on September 10, 2026.
The question now is bigger than Fonepay
Can Nepal’s digital payment infrastructure beat one of the world’s biggest technology platforms?
WhatsApp has the edge on global scale and previous category recognition but Fonepay could be the dark horse if the jury gives greater weight to measurable infrastructure impact and financial inclusion.
