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Tag: Akhil Gupta

  • NoBroker.com adds $30 mn to series D from General Atlantic

    NoBroker.com adds $30 mn to series D from General Atlantic

    MUMBAI: NoBroker.com today announced that it has added USD $30 million to its series D funding taking it to $80 million. This brings the total funding raised by NoBroker to USD $151 million.  The round was led by General Atlantic. This is an extension to its series D funding round of $50 million in October 2019 which was led by Tiger Global and General Atlantic had also participated in that round.

    NoBroker.com is seeking to improve user experience in the real estate industry by making transactions more convenient and affordable. More than 35 lakh properties are already registered on NoBroker and more than 85 lakh individuals have used NoBroker services.

    General Atlantic MD Shantanu Rastogi said, “NoBroker's service and product innovations to improve choice, reduce transactions costs, enhance transparency and deliver convenience are driving significant organic listings and subscriptions on its platform. NoBroker Pay, NoBroker Hood, NoBroker Home Services and several such innovations are deepening the engagement of owners, tenants, buyers and community residents with its platform making it a go-to-destination beyond its core offering of rental and sale transactions. We are excited to back Akhil, Amit and Saurabh in strengthening their leadership position in this huge segment.”

    NoBroker is a one-stop shop for the entire real estate transaction journey ranging from rental, sale or resale to post transaction services like loan, packers and movers, legal documentation, online rent payment, interiors etc.

    NoBroker launched its operations in Delhi-NCR in November 2019 and currently operates across six cities including Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi-NCR.  NoBroker  had  acquired  society management and ERP solutions company Society Connect in an all-cash deal in February 2020 to strengthen their Visitor and Society Management app NoBrokerHood, making it a single app that any society would need.

    “NoBroker is making the entire real-estate transaction journey seamless with the help of technology. The huge amount of data we generate on the platform helps us to use machine learning and artificial intelligence leading to faster closures and customise offerings for every customer. The support provided to us by our investors is a testimonial to our ongoing tech innovation. We will further invest in our financial services to make them accessible to more people,” said NoBroker.com CTO and co-founder Akhil Gupta.

    Focus on making the entire transaction easy and affordable for the customers has ensured that NoBroker has gained strong traction in its current cities of operations and the business is currently adding more than 350,000 new users every month.

    “We  are  dedicated  to solve  a problem that  is  unique  to India and  build  India’s largest  real-estate  technology platform that makes transactions affordable and hassle-free. We have been tripling our revenue every year and this funding will help us further improve user experience and enable faster deal closures. We will continue to add value  across  the  user  journey  with  continuous  investment  in  our  home  store  and  NoBrokerHood,”  said NoBroker.com CEO and co-founder Amit Kumar.

    NoBroker.com CBO and co-founder Saurabh Garg said, “We are encouraged by the confidence that General Atlantic has placed in us. We are focused on building India’s largest one-stop platform for all real estate needs. Our growth across verticals tells that our unique model is solving a real customer problem. This funding will help us expand to new cities and also go deeper in the existing cities and service more customers. We will also invest further in our sales vertical."

  • Convergence India opens on Digital India theme with 434 exhibitors from 29 countries

    Convergence India opens on Digital India theme with 434 exhibitors from 29 countries

    NEW DELHI: India has emerged as one of the most promising markets for IT and Telecommunications companies with government initiatives such as Digital India and Make in India propelling growth and encouraging major tech companies like Facebook, Microsoft and Google, who are preparing to serve the Indian rural market.

     

    This was the general view of speakers at the inauguration of the 24th Convergence India Expo, which opened in the capital today with 434 exhibitors from 29 countries.

     

    Speakers said India is in the midst of a digital revolution, and the government has unveiled new policies and regulations to accelerate the adoption of ICT in key economic and strategic sectors to increase India’s competitiveness and productivity.

      

    Bharti Enterprises vice chairman Akhil Gupta said, “The Indian ICT sector has entered an exciting growth phase led by the proliferation of digital media and technologies. With over one billion mobile connections, the country’s transformation into a digital economy will be driven by mobile broadband, which will help hundreds of millions of Indians benefit by connecting to the internet. The industry remains committed to the Government’s Digital India vision.”

     

    CII National Committee on Telecom & Broadband chairman Kiran Karnik, who was moderating the inaugural conference session on Digital India, added, “The panellists comprised eminent names who bought a unique and different perspective on the various issues involved. The result was an excellent session, which provided many insights and useful suggestions.”

     

    Keynote speaker at the Convergence India forum, former Secretary in the Government and former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman Pradip Baijal said, “Today’s India and Indians want to be informed and connected 24×7, hence mobile broadband. India has very poor fixed-line tele-density and fixed broadband density. Of seven billion mobiles in the world, 3.5 billion have been converted to mobile broadband. In India, less than 10 per cent of mobiles have been converted to mobile broadband. This needs correction, and I hope the conference will deliberate on this.”

     

    Exhibitions India Group chairman Prem Behl, who conceived the Convergence India Expo, said, “Our endeavour is to bring to the forefront an extraordinary platform, which is informative, thought provoking and empowers both government and industry stakeholders to meet the challenges of the future.”

     

    Participating exhibitors include: Appear TV, Cisco Systems, Elemental Technologies, Ericsson, NAGRA, RiverSilica, SanDisk India and Telenor, among others, who are using the Convergence India platform to showcase cutting-edge technologies and innovations.

     

    Apart from the exhibition arena, concurrent conference sessions are being held in two separate halls with prominent government officials, industry leaders, technocrats, academia, media, etc.

     

    Eminent speakers included TRAI chairman R S Sharma; Kiran Karnik; Broadcom India MD Rajiv Kapur; Cisco India and SAARC managing director – service provider business Sanjay Kaul; Telenor India CEO Sharad Mehrotra; ICA National president Pankaj Mohindroo; Bharti Infratel MD and CEO Devender Singh Rawat; and Viom Networks CEO Syed Safawi, amongst others.

     

    Organised by the Exhibitions India Group, the Expo is supported by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

  • Convergence India opens on Digital India theme with 434 exhibitors from 29 countries

    Convergence India opens on Digital India theme with 434 exhibitors from 29 countries

    NEW DELHI: India has emerged as one of the most promising markets for IT and Telecommunications companies with government initiatives such as Digital India and Make in India propelling growth and encouraging major tech companies like Facebook, Microsoft and Google, who are preparing to serve the Indian rural market.

     

    This was the general view of speakers at the inauguration of the 24th Convergence India Expo, which opened in the capital today with 434 exhibitors from 29 countries.

     

    Speakers said India is in the midst of a digital revolution, and the government has unveiled new policies and regulations to accelerate the adoption of ICT in key economic and strategic sectors to increase India’s competitiveness and productivity.

      

    Bharti Enterprises vice chairman Akhil Gupta said, “The Indian ICT sector has entered an exciting growth phase led by the proliferation of digital media and technologies. With over one billion mobile connections, the country’s transformation into a digital economy will be driven by mobile broadband, which will help hundreds of millions of Indians benefit by connecting to the internet. The industry remains committed to the Government’s Digital India vision.”

     

    CII National Committee on Telecom & Broadband chairman Kiran Karnik, who was moderating the inaugural conference session on Digital India, added, “The panellists comprised eminent names who bought a unique and different perspective on the various issues involved. The result was an excellent session, which provided many insights and useful suggestions.”

     

    Keynote speaker at the Convergence India forum, former Secretary in the Government and former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman Pradip Baijal said, “Today’s India and Indians want to be informed and connected 24×7, hence mobile broadband. India has very poor fixed-line tele-density and fixed broadband density. Of seven billion mobiles in the world, 3.5 billion have been converted to mobile broadband. In India, less than 10 per cent of mobiles have been converted to mobile broadband. This needs correction, and I hope the conference will deliberate on this.”

     

    Exhibitions India Group chairman Prem Behl, who conceived the Convergence India Expo, said, “Our endeavour is to bring to the forefront an extraordinary platform, which is informative, thought provoking and empowers both government and industry stakeholders to meet the challenges of the future.”

     

    Participating exhibitors include: Appear TV, Cisco Systems, Elemental Technologies, Ericsson, NAGRA, RiverSilica, SanDisk India and Telenor, among others, who are using the Convergence India platform to showcase cutting-edge technologies and innovations.

     

    Apart from the exhibition arena, concurrent conference sessions are being held in two separate halls with prominent government officials, industry leaders, technocrats, academia, media, etc.

     

    Eminent speakers included TRAI chairman R S Sharma; Kiran Karnik; Broadcom India MD Rajiv Kapur; Cisco India and SAARC managing director – service provider business Sanjay Kaul; Telenor India CEO Sharad Mehrotra; ICA National president Pankaj Mohindroo; Bharti Infratel MD and CEO Devender Singh Rawat; and Viom Networks CEO Syed Safawi, amongst others.

     

    Organised by the Exhibitions India Group, the Expo is supported by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

  • Anand Mahindra is Forbes India “Entrepreneur for the Year 2013”

    Anand Mahindra is Forbes India “Entrepreneur for the Year 2013”

    MUMBAI: Forbes India has been a champion of entrepreneurial capitalism, in line with the Forbes DNA defined almost a century ago in the US.

    It shares the vision that over the next 10 years, India will have a never-before chance to create an entrepreneurial renaissance. It believes in the spirit of fair play. It believes that entrepreneurs need to follow the rules. And this is recognised through Forbes India Leadership Awards wherein outstanding leaders are appreciated every year.

    Anand Mahindra at the Forbes India Leadership Awards

    This year, the entrepreneur of the year went to Mahindra & Mahindra chairman and managing director Anand Mahindra, who was chosen for the high honour for growing his group more than 10-fold in 10 years in several continents.

    The long-list of nominees for each category was prepared by June and was judged by jury headed by ICICI Bank non-executive chairman KV Kamath. McKinsey & Co India chairman Adil Zainulbhai, Blackstone Advisors India chairman Akhil Gupta, Indian School of Business Dean Ajit Rangnekar, AZB Partners senior partner Zia Modi, and founder and group editor of Network18 Raghav Bahl brought in years of experience to the jury.

    KPMG was the knowledge partners for the event, which helped with the number crunching essential for the process.

    The following are the Forbes India winners for 2013:

    1)Start Up for the Year

    Phanindra Sama  – redBus

    2)Nextgen Entrepreneur for the Year

    Tarang Jain – Varroc Engineering

    3)Entrepreneur with Social Impact

    Ranjan Sharma – IKSL

    4)Conscious Capitalist Company for the year

    HUL

    5)Best CEO – Multinational Company

    Francisco D’souza – Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp

    6)Best CEO – Public Sector

    Rakesh Tandon – IRCTC

    7)Best CEO – Private Sector

    Chanda Kochhar – ICICI Bank

    8)Woman Leader for the Year

    Chitra Ramkrishna – NSE

    9) Lifetime Achievement Award for the Year

    Brijmohan Lall Munjal – Hero MotoCorp

    10)Entrepreneur for the Year

    Anand Mahindra  – Mahindra & Mahindra

  • Anand Mahindra is Forbes India Entrepreneur for the Year 2013

    Anand Mahindra is Forbes India Entrepreneur for the Year 2013

    MUMBAI: Forbes India has been a champion of entrepreneurial capitalism, in line with the Forbes DNA defined almost a century ago in the US.

     

    It shares the vision that over the next 10 years, India will have a never-before chance to create an entrepreneurial renaissance. It believes in the spirit of fair play. It believes that entrepreneurs need to follow the rules. And this is recognised through Forbes India Leadership Awards wherein outstanding leaders are appreciated every year.

     

    This year, the entrepreneur of the year went to Mahindra & Mahindra chairman and managing director Anand Mahindra, who was chosen for the high honour for growing his group more than 10-fold in 10 years in several continents.

     

    The long-list of nominees for each category was prepared by June and was judged by jury headed by ICICI Bank non-executive chairman KV Kamath. McKinsey & Co India chairman Adil Zainulbhai, Blackstone Advisors India chairman Akhil Gupta, Indian School of Business Dean Ajit Rangnekar, AZB Partners senior partner Zia Modi, and founder and group editor of Network18 Raghav Bahl brought in years of experience to the jury.

     

    KPMG was the knowledge partners for the event, which helped with the number crunching essential for the process.

     

    The following are the Forbes India winners for 2013:

     

    1)Start Up for the Year

     

    Phanindra Sama  – redBus

     

    2)Nextgen Entrepreneur for the Year

     

    Tarang Jain – Varroc Engineering

     

    3)Entrepreneur with Social Impact

     

    Ranjan Sharma – IKSL

     

    4)Conscious Capitalist Company for the year

     

    HUL

     

    5)Best CEO – Multinational Company

     

    Francisco D’souza – Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp

     

    6)Best CEO – Public Sector

     

    Rakesh Tandon – IRCTC

     

    7)Best CEO – Private Sector

     

    Chanda Kochhar – ICICI Bank

     

    8)Woman Leader for the Year

     

    Chitra Ramkrishna – NSE

     

    9) Lifetime Achievement Award for the Year

     

    Brijmohan Lall Munjal – Hero MotoCorp

     

    10)Entrepreneur for the Year

    Anand Mahindra  – Mahindra & Mahindra
     

  • JWT launches Worldmakers in India

    MUMBAI: JWT has announced the launch of the Indian edition of Worldmakers, hosted by JWT Worldwide chairman and CEO Bob Jeffrey.

    Worldmakers is a Web-based talk show series created and produced by JWT, first launched in January 2012.

    The latest edition of Worldmakers, which can be viewed on JWT Worldwide’s YouTube channel, takes the conversation to Mumbai where Jeffrey meets with the leading innovators, storytellers and entrepreneurs who are influencing technology and industry in India and beyond.

    Meeting with the country’s most influential creative and business-minded thought leaders, Worldmakers: India delves into the nuances of the country and what it means to be both creative and successful in the market.

    Worldmakers: India guests include Akhil Gupta (senior managing director and chairman of Blackstone India), Prahlad Kakkar (Indian ad film director), Roopak Saluja (founder and managing director of Bang Bang Films), Ram Madhvani (ad film director), Rahul Bose (Indian actor, screenwriter, director), Dibankar Banerjee (film director and screenwriter), Tara Sharma (British Indian actress) and Colvyn Harris (CEO JWT South Asia).

    JWT’s Worldmade outlook seeks influence and inspiration from the international community, and the blossoming Indian market is an important one for advertisers and brands looking to identify emerging global opportunities.

    “India is an important driver of global economy and a key market across many industries. Our candid conversations with the influencers who are driving change and shaping culture in India offer powerful Worldmade insights into opportunities and strategies for future success in this growing market,” said Jeffrey.

  • Blackstone to invest $ 275 million in Ramoji

    Blackstone to invest $ 275 million in Ramoji

    MUMBAI: In the single-largest investment in Indian media, global private investment firm Blackstone Group has announced it will be pumping in $ 275 million (approximately Rs 12.38 billion) to acquire a stake in Ushodaya Enterprises Limited (UEL), the holding company that manages Ramoji Rao’s media assets.

    While yesterday’s announcement gave no details on the quantum of the stake that Blackstone would be taking in the south Indian media baron’s closely held company, media reports have put it at 26 per cent. This would put UEL’s enterprise valuation at $1.06 billion.

    In addition to the $ 275 million that UEL is raising from Blackstone, it is also taking $190 million of bank financing, bringing the total financing it expects to raise to $465 million. As part of the agreement, Blackstone will have representation on the Board of UEL.

    The transaction is subject to regulatory approval by Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) and the information and broadcasting ministry.

    UEL chairman Ramoji Rao stated, “We were impressed with Blackstone’s disciplined and highly rigorous investment process and the ability to combine this emphasis with a deep and genuine respect for the promoter’s interests and desire to add value. The company had access to several financing options, including an IPO; but we decided to go with Blackstone because we believe that at this stage of our growth we have an opportunity to create significant value by leveraging Blackstone’s outstanding experience and track record in the global media sector.”

    Akhil Gupta, chairman and managing director of Blackstone Advisors India Private Limited, stated, “We believe that the Indian media sector will be a key beneficiary of a secular trend in growth in personal consumption that is driving India’s economic expansion which in turn will spur advertising growth. Importantly, we believe that UEL is an ideal platform for Blackstone to play this highly attractive sector in India..”

    Kotak Investment Banking acted as the sole investment banking advisor to the transaction.

    UEL owns Eenadu, the third largest newspaper, and ETV, the fourth largest private television broadcasting network in the country. The parent company of UEL, Ramoji Group, owns the 1,600-acre Ramoji Film City, which is Asia’s largest studio, apart from diversified interests in hotels, foods and financial services.

    The Blackstone Group is a global private investment and advisory firm that has has raised a total of more than $75 billion for alternative asset investing since its formation of which over $30 billion has been for private equity investing