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Tag: Nikesh Arora

  • SoftBank invests $627 million in Snapdeal

    SoftBank invests $627 million in Snapdeal

    MUMBAI:  Seeking to tap into the growing e-commerce market in India, the Japanese telecom giant SoftBank announced a $627 million investment in the home-grown retailer Snapdeal, becoming the largest investor in the company.

     

    This is the largest investment made by a single investor in an e-commerce company in India.  Other existing investors have also participated in this round with a significant undisclosed investment.

     

    Through this strategic investment and partnership with Snapdeal, the telecom group aims at strengthening its presence in India and leveraging synergies with its network of Internet companies around the world, according to the press release issued by the e-tailer.

     

    While on the other hand, Snapdeal, will use the investments in expanding its chain of fulfillment centres. It will also look to make 3-4 strategic acquisitions in the coming few months specifically in the area of mobile technology and is planning to set up an incubation centre to hone and harness start-up businesses in the mobile technology space within next six months.

     

    Talking about the investment, SoftBank chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son said, “Since SoftBank’s foundation, our mission has been to contribute to people’s lives through the Information Revolution. We believe India is at a turning point in its development and have confidence that India will grow strongly over the next decade. As part of this belief, we intend to deploy significant capital in India over the next few years to support development of the market.”

     

    Adding to that, SoftBank’s vice chairman Nikesh Arora reckoned, “India has the third-largest Internet user base in the world, but a relatively small online market currently. This situation means India has, with better, faster and cheaper Internet access, a big growth potential. With today’s announcement SoftBank is contributing to the development of the infrastructure for the digital future of India. We want to support the leaders and entrepreneurs of the digital future; Kunal and Rohit are two such great leaders.”

     

    Nikesh Arora will also be joining the board of Snapdeal as part of this strategic investment by the SoftBank Group.

     

    Morrison & Foerster LLP acted as legal advisor to advising SoftBank on India law matters.

     

     “Our entire team at Snapdeal is thrilled and honoured to have SoftBank as a strategic partner. With the support of Son-san and Nikesh, we are confident we will further strengthen our promise to consumers and create life changing experiences for 1 million small businesses in India,” said Snapdeal co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl.

     

    Founded in 2010, the company also claims to have more than 25 million registered users and more than 50,000 business sellers. Earlier this year, Snapdeal had raised $133.77 million in a round led by eBay and $105 million from institutional investors including Temasek, Myriad, Tybourne, Blackrock Inc. and Premji Invest. Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata also made a personal investment into the company. 

  • Google’s Nikesh Arora heads to SoftBank

    Google’s Nikesh Arora heads to SoftBank

    MUMBAI: SoftBank Corp. has announced that Google’s Nikesh Arora will be joining the company in October as vice chairman of SoftBank Corp. and CEO of SoftBank Internet and Media Inc (SIMI).

     

    He will be report to SoftBank Corp. chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son.

     

    Arora joins SoftBank after almost a decade at Google, first running their European business operation and for the last five years as its chief business officer.

     

    “As we enter the next phase of our expansion I can’t think of a better person than Nikesh to help us chart that course. As Vice Chairman, he will work closely with me in defining, implementing and managing our global growth strategy. In addition, as CEO of SIMI he will be directly responsible for overseeing our Internet, telecommunications, media and global investment activities, which we have been developing over the last few years,” said Masayoshi Son.

     

    “I have had the good fortune of getting to know Nikesh over the last five years. He brings a rare set of skills: amazing financial and strategic acumen; a decade of executive experience at one of the fastest growing companies in history; a deep understanding of the telecommunications industry. This makes him uniquely qualified to help guide us through our next stage of growth. Our intention is to nominate Nikesh to the SoftBank Corp. board at our next shareholder meeting,” he concluded.

     

    Before joining Google, Arora was a telecom analyst at Putnam Investments. He then went on to create his own mobile data start-up in 2000 and also worked with T-Mobile in various capacities including as CMO of its European Business and a member of its board.

     

    At Google, Arora was responsible for all partnerships, marketing, sales and customer activities in addition to being part of the company’s management team. Arora has an MBA from Northeastern University, a Master’s Degree in Finance from Boston College and graduated as an Electrical Engineer from IIT-BHU. He is also a CFA.

  • Winners announced in Googles impact challenge in India

    Winners announced in Googles impact challenge in India

    MUMBAI: Today the winners of the Google Impact Challenge in India were announced, a competition that asked Indian nonprofits how they would make a positive impact on India and the world using technology. The four winners, unveiled at an event in Delhi, each received a Rs 3 crore Global Impact Award, 10 Nexus tablets and support from Google to make their project a reality.
     

    All ten finalists of the Google Impact Challenge pitched their concepts live to a panel of judges that included Google Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora, Google board member Ram Shriram, Google Director of Giving Jacquelline Fuller, Social Worker and former Chairperson of Thermax Anu Aga and Omidyar Network India Advisors Managing Director Jayant Sinha.

    The winners, as selected by the judges, are as follows:

    Agastya: Launch a network of motorbike science labs to address the lack of science equipment and digital resources for rural children (www.agastya.org)

    Digital Green: Scale a video hub and an online knowledge platform to help farmers gain the agricultural skills they need to lower their costs and increase their productivity
    (www.digitalgreen.org)

    Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship & Democracy: Create online and mobile apps to connect citizens to their government representatives in urban India (www.janaagraha.org)

    A fourth winner was selected by the public to receive the final Rs 3 crore Global Impact Award. 

    After over half a million people voted during the Challenge’s ten day voting period, Social Awareness, Newer Alternatives was selected as the public’s fan favourite. The voting period ran from October 21 to October 30 at g.co/indiachallenge.

    In addition to supporting all ten exceptional projects through the Google Impact Challenge, Google was keen to highlight the work of the Indian non-profit community. In a surprise announcement made at the event, the six runners-up in the Google Impact Challenge each received Rs 1.5 crore to scale their impact.

    Ram Shriram, judge and Google board member said, “Technology is an intrinsic part of our everyday lives. Its potential, if harnessed effectively, could play a pivotal role in bringing positive change in society. The Google Impact Challenge is aimed at celebrating and accelerating the best technological innovations developed by the bright minds of our country with an agenda to make a positive impact in the society. We congratulate all the winners and wish them success for their social initiatives. ”

    Nikesh Arora, judge and Google Senior Vice President said, “All the ideas were wonderful and we had a tough time choosing the winners. We launched the Google Impact Challenge to provide support to India’s brightest social entrepreneurs who want to apply their innovative skills to usher in a social change. We have received an overwhelming response from social entrepreneurs working for diverse causes and are highly impressed by the innovative and sustainable business models showcased during the Challenge.”

    Global Impact Awards support entrepreneurial non-profits using technology to tackle some of the world’s toughest problems. Previous awards supported ideas ranging from technology that allowed under-privileged students to access maths and science education to real-time sensors that monitor clean water. This is Google’s second country-specific Challenge