It’s 2:45 PM on a Thursday afternoon in Mumbai. The Prime Minister is about to take the stage at the Jio World Convention Centre. Simultaneously, 4,050 people are checking their event apps for session updates. Another 12,000 are browsing speaker profiles on the website. Registration queues are processing credentials. Exhibitors are updating their booth information. And somewhere in a war room, our team is watching every millisecond of response time like their lives depend on it.
Because in a way, they do.
This was Global Fintech Fest 2025 – the world’s largest fintech gathering. And for six intense months, we had the privilege of building its entire digital foundation.
The Scale of Ambition
When Payments Council of India approached us, the opportunity was clear: this would be the largest fintech gathering the world had ever seen:
- 100,000+ delegates from 100+ countries
- 850+ speakers
- 7,500+ companies
- 500+ investors
- 400+ exhibitors
- Dozens of product launches, policy announcements, and live partnerships
Oh, and the theme? “Empowering Finance for a Better World – Powered by AI.” No pressure to deliver something equally transformative, right?
What they needed wasn’t just a website or an app. They needed a mission-critical digital ecosystem that could handle everything from registration and security to real-time notifications and AI-powered interactions – all while never, ever going down.
Design Meets Engineering (And They Actually Get Along)
Here’s what most people don’t realize about large-scale event platforms: the design challenge isn’t just making things look good. It’s architecting an experience that serves completely different needs across completely different contexts.
The website had to be a research hub, a place where delegates could discover speakers, explore sessions, connect with sponsors, and plan their entire three-day journey before even arriving. This was for the planners, the researchers, the decision-makers sitting at their desks weeks before the event.
The app had to be a survival tool, real-time maps, schedule changes, push notifications, live Q&A, and instant networking. This was for people navigating a massive venue with spotty connectivity and zero patience for anything that didn’t work instantly.
Two platforms. Two completely different user mindsets. One seamless experience.
The Website: Built for Discovery
We crafted an information architecture that could handle massive complexity without feeling overwhelming. With 850 speakers and hundreds of sessions, finding what mattered couldn’t feel like work.
The result? 72% of users accessed the platform via desktop, making the website the primary command center for GFF. These weren’t casual browsers. These were users spending an average of 32 minutes per session, diving deep into speaker bios, session descriptions, and exhibitor information.
We knew we’d succeeded when users averaged 6.7 sessions each. They kept coming back. That’s not traffic. That’s trust.
The App: Built for the Moment
While the website was about preparation, the mobile app was about execution.
On-the-ground networking. Last-minute schedule changes. Navigating between NMACC and the Jio World Convention Centre. Finding the right breakout room when you’re already running late.
The app captured 28% of total platform usage, a significant secondary platform that proved essential for the live event experience. With 4,050 daily active users consistently engaging throughout the event, we maintained the kind of retention that only happens when people genuinely rely on what you’ve built.
And those 30,000+ app downloads? Split almost perfectly between Android (11,108) and iOS (10,572). Real cross-platform reach.
The Numbers That Tell the Real Story
When the dust settled (and our heart rates returned to normal), the metrics painted a picture we’re genuinely proud of:
| Metric | Value | What It Really Means |
| Active Users | 842,000+ | This wasn’t just India. This was global. |
| Total Sessions | 1.02 Million | High traffic that our infrastructure handled without breaking a sweat. |
| Engagement Rate | 58%+ | More than half of users actively interacted—they weren’t just browsing. |
| Total Interactions | 6.9 Million | From connects and messages to GPT sessions and table bookings. |
| Session Length | 32 minutes avg. | Deep, meaningful content consumption. |
| First-Day Retention | 30%+ | One in three app users came back after their first session. |
But here’s the metric that mattered most to us: 99.2% uptime and 91.9% crash-free users.
When the Prime Minister takes the stage, the platform doesn’t get to buffer. When the Finance Minister addresses the crowd, notifications don’t get to fail. We built for those moments.
Performance Under Pressure: The War Room Stories
There’s a specific kind of adrenaline that comes with monitoring systems during a live mega-event. Our 24×7 war room became home for three days straight.
The challenge: Sub-200 millisecond response times during peak loads. Live session starts creating sudden traffic spikes. On-ground network fluctuations. Thousands of simultaneous logins. And the ever-present threat of security breaches.
Our answer:
- Rendering Speed (RES) of 99 – Near-instant visual display
- First Contentful Paint (FCP) of 1.1 seconds – Users saw content immediately
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) of 1.91 seconds – Main content loaded fast
- Interaction to Next Paint (INP) of 152ms – Snappy, responsive interactions
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) of 0.1 – Visual stability throughout
And perhaps our proudest stat: 18,000 hack attempts prevented. Because when you’re handling sensitive delegate information and high-profile transactions, security isn’t optional but fundamental.
The Human Side: Email as the Unexpected Hero
Something that surprised even us was that 42% of new users came through email campaigns.
In an age of social media dominance, good old-fashioned email proved to be the most effective acquisition channel. Direct traffic accounted for 18% (loyal, returning users), organic search brought in 17%, and other channels contributed 23%.
This taught us something important: when you’re dealing with professionals – investors, policymakers, fintech leaders – targeted, personalized communication still wins. They want information delivered where they work, not where they scroll.
The Features That Mattered
Raw numbers only tell part of the story. Let’s talk about what people actually did:
- 79,547 connections made: Real networking happening through the platform
- 11,787 messages sent: Conversations that led to partnerships and deals
- 5,061 GPT sessions: Strong adoption of AI-powered features
- 1,962 table bookings: Transactional engagement showing genuine intent
- 2,366 KYC completions: Compliance and security handled seamlessly
Each number represents a moment where our design facilitated something meaningful. A partnership formed. A meeting scheduled. A question answered. That’s the work we’re actually proud of.
Working with the Payments Council
None of this happens without the right partner. The Payments Council of India, led by Gaurav Chopra and his execution team, understood something crucial: good digital experiences require collaboration, not just requirements documents.
We worked with multiple committees – event operations, security, content teams, exhibitors, sponsors – to align requirements and create scalable modules. They gave us the governance structure to move fast without breaking things. That’s rare, and it made all the difference.
When High-Stakes Meets High-Profile
There’s a photo from the event that captures something important: dignitaries addressing a sea of global attendees, the stage lit perfectly, the audience fully engaged. What you don’t see in that photo is the digital infrastructure humming invisibly beneath it all.
The notifications that got everyone there on time. The credential systems that processed entry seamlessly. The live Q&A feeds that let remote attendees participate. The security protocols that protected every interaction.
Great design is invisible until something breaks. And nothing broke.
What We Learned (And What’s Next)
Building for Global Fintech Fest taught us that enterprise-scale design isn’t about flashy interfaces or trendy animations. It’s about:
- Reliability when stakes are highest
- Clarity when information is overwhelming
- Speed when patience is nonexistent
- Security when trust is everything
It’s about understanding that behind every session number is a person trying to accomplish something important. Our job is to get out of their way while making it all possible.
The Feedback That Mattered Most
After three intense days and six months of preparation, the feedback we valued most wasn’t about our beautiful UI or impressive metrics.
It was this: “The experience just worked.”
From a user’s perspective, that’s the highest compliment. They didn’t think about the platform. They thought about the connections they made, the sessions they attended, the deals they closed.
That’s exactly how it should be.
Ready to Build Something That Actually Works Under Pressure?
From 850 speakers to 1.02 million sessions, we build digital experiences that don’t just look good in presentations. They perform when everything’s on the line.
Got a project that keeps you up at night? Good. Those are the ones we love.
Challenge us with your biggest idea.
Reach us at: growth@f1studioz.com
