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Tag: Piyush Shah

  • Glance-upGrad partner up to tackle India’s 13.4 per cent unemployment rate

    Glance-upGrad partner up to tackle India’s 13.4 per cent unemployment rate

    MUMBAI: Imagine unlocking your phone and unlocking your future at the same time.

    In a world where smart screens are as essential as the air we breathe, Glance and upGrad are reshaping how we learn and grow. This groundbreaking collaboration turns your lock screen into a gateway of endless possibilities, offering free, job-ready skills through upGrad’s Intern-Zip programme.

    With the swipe of a finger, millions of young Indians now have access to life-changing upskilling opportunities, proving that in the 21st century, innovation and ambition go hand in hand.

    Glance reaches 235 million users daily, nearly 47 per cent of whom are under the age of 24—making it a strategic platform to connect with young Indians. Within three weeks of the launch, upGrad’s content has garnered over 100 million views (glances) on lock screens, underscoring the programme’s reach and impact.

    The Intern-Zip programme, designed for individuals aged 20-24, aims to address India’s 13.4 per cent unemployment rate among graduates by equipping them with skills for professional success. Courses include foundational topics such as technical expertise, soft skills, and professional development, all accessible directly from the users’ lock screens.

    InMobi co-founder & Glance COO & president, Piyush Shah expressed optimism about the initiative, “With Glance, we’re not only reaching millions—we’re empowering them to seize opportunities and inspire them to discover something new every moment. By bringing upGrad’s workforce-ready content directly on smart lock screens, we’re equipping users with technical expertise, soft skills, and professional development tools.”

    upGrad co-founder, Mayank Kumar highlighted the relevance of skilling in a transforming economy, “India has now become a global epicentre of learning and skilling, and this is the most opportune time to scale our value proposition to a different demographic altogether. Partnering with Glance allows us to expand our reach and leverage smart tech integration, further reinforcing our commitment to this cause.”

    Glance chief marketing officer, Bikash Chowdhury underscored the programme’s alignment with India’s broader economic goals, “As India works towards becoming a $5 trillion economy, a skilled, adaptable workforce is essential for sustaining growth and solidifying the nation’s standing as a global talent hub. Our goal with the Glance for Good programme is to inspire positive behaviour and drive large-scale, real-world impact.”

    By combining Glance’s AI-driven lock screen platform, available in seven Indian languages, with upGrad’s expertise in skilling, the initiative creates an unparalleled opportunity to empower India’s youth and address the evolving demands of a tech-driven economy.

  • Glance smart lock screens launch in Japan with top carriers and Android brands

    Glance smart lock screens launch in Japan with top carriers and Android brands

    Mumbai: In today’s information-heavy world, deciding what to watch, read or experience on the smartphone can be exhausting for consumers. Searching, downloading multiple apps, switching between these apps and scrolling through endless feeds often tires the mind, leaving consumers drained. But what if there was a way to make it easier for consumers to enjoy the internet? What if the smartphone could be made smarter, simplifying the way consumers discover content and experiences on the internet?

    Glance lock screen, one of the world’s leading smart lock screen platforms, is doing just that, changing how hundreds of millions of consumers across the world engage with the internet. For the first time ever, consumers of Japan’s biggest carriers and Android smartphone brands can experience this revolutionary smart lock screen platform as well.

    Glance is an AI-driven platform that offers a wide range of experiences directly on the lock screens of Android smartphones. These lock screen experiences include instant games, live game streaming, news, sports, lifestyle, fashion, entertainment, shopping, and live content. These premium and beautiful experiences are delivered through Glance’s partnership with reputed publishers, content partners, and developers. Glance’s AI personalises these experiences, ensuring that consumers find content that is most relevant and important to them, each time they glance or look at their lock screen. They do this without needing to unlock their phones download multiple apps or spend time searching for content.

    “With Glance we are unlocking the power of the lock screen, using AI to transform passive lock screens into smart lock screens,” says Glance Co-founder of InMobi Group and COO & president of Piyush Shah. “Consumers check their lock screen over 100 times a day but only use it for notifications, battery, and time. With Glance’s smart lock screen, they can stay on top of everything that interests them throughout the day. This could be a casual game that they love, latest score of a baseball game, the latest J-pop album launch, updates on their favourite celebrities and shows or news that matters to them – all without unlocking, downloading, or searching.” Shah adds, “We are truly honoured to launch in the Japanese market and hope to bring the best lock screen experience to consumers here.”

    In Japan, Glance is already available to subscribers of SoftBank Corp using Xiaomi (Redmi Note 9T Redmi Note 10T, and 12T Pro) and Motorola (Moto G53y 5G) smartphones. In the upcoming quarters, it aims to expand its presence to other big carriers and Android smartphone brands in Japan. Globally, Glance is present on over 450 million Android smartphones, and is aiming to be on over one billion phones in the next two years. The platform has over 230 million active users, primarily in India and Indonesia, while it has recently launched in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia.

    Glance senior vice president & GM of strategic distribution partnerships Aditya Goyal said, “For carriers and smartphone brands, Glance is an opportunity to differentiate themselves and boost consumer engagement through a unique experience. The top six Android phone brands have integrated Glance on their smartphones in multiple markets globally and are using it to deliver personalized experiences for their consumers. We are excited to enable carriers and brands in Japan to provide this same innovative and captivating mobile experience to consumers here.”

    Initially, Glance consumers in Japan will be able to discover news, trending content, and gaming on their lock screens. Content and experiences on Glance are powered by Japan’s biggest publishers, including Yahoo Japan Corporation (Partners of Yahoo! News), LINE Digital Frontier Corporation LINE Manga), dely Inc.（Kurashiru), Ikkyu Corporation (ikkyu.com), C Channel Corporation CHANNEL), SoftBank Corporation（Baseball LIVE, Basket LIVE), Mybest Inc.（mybest), AllAbout Inc (AllAbout)

    For publishers such as these, Glance provides a new and exciting way to reach the right consumers at a large scale. Several other top publishers are expected to join the platform in the coming quarters.

    Glance has established a strong team in Tokyo, led by Masato Ito, Head of Market Development Japan, demonstrating its commitment to the market. This team is expected to grow significantly in the coming quarters. The platform is also expanding its presence to other regions and aims to launch in the US soon. Glance is headquartered in Singapore and is funded by investors including Jio Platforms, Google, and Mithril Capital.

  • Glance TV launched to provide interactive experiences on smart TV

    Glance TV launched to provide interactive experiences on smart TV

    Mumbai: Consumer internet company Glance on Monday announced the launch of Glance TV – a live, interactive content platform for the home screen or ‘screen zero’ of Android smart TVs. With live streams and real-time on-screen interactions for users, Glance TV aims to transform passive television content consumption into an active social experience.

    Glance TV will offer off-beat, personalised snackable content of 5-20 minutes duration, across categories such as sports, entertainment, infotainment, e-sports, current affairs, lifestyle, food, and fitness, unlike standardised long-form TV shows. It has partnered with major content providers including Zee5, Epic On and Docubay to provide users fresh, personalised and premium content every day, said the statement. 

    Glance TV users can interact directly in real-time with their favourite stars on the television home screens. They can attend personalised fitness training sessions, watch interactive cooking shows with celebrity chefs, or enjoy sports in community watch-alongs that replicate immersive, stadium-like atmospheres. Within shows, users can interact and shape the direction of the content through live comments, reactions, and polls. Using QR codes on live TV, they can also buy tickets for movies and events, shop live, and get their social media posts featured on Glance TV streams.  

    “The launch of Glance TV is a major milestone for Glance, which has revolutionised content consumption on smartphones by bringing Live, interactive content to the mobile lock screen. Launched in 2019, Glance is now one of the world’s largest mobile lock screen platforms with over 200 million active users,” said the company in a statement. 

    Glance TV aims to be present on approximately 30 per cent of all smart TVs in India soon. The company plans to make Glance TV available globally and also intends to develop the same for other smart TV operating systems.

    “Glance has reimagined the lock screen of smartphones into a live screen for personalised, LIVE content,” said InMobi Group co-founder and Glance president and COO Piyush Shah. “With Glance TV, we want to redefine television experiences just as we did with smartphones. This is TV in a way that has never been seen before and is a true innovation that extends the Live experience that Glance delivers on lock screens to television home screens.”

    “With Glance TV, our intention is to remove the age-old connotation of TV being an idle way to pass time and change the perception of TV as the ‘idiot box.’ Glance TV gives users the experience where they can be active while watching TV and can express themselves directly on the big screen, within virtual communities of fellow users,” added Glance SVP and GM Manish Gupta.

  • Glance buys out gaming firm Gambit in NFT push

    Glance buys out gaming firm Gambit in NFT push

    Mumbai: InMobi’s consumer internet division Glance has announced the acquisition of Indian gaming firm Gambit Sports. This will accelerate Singapore-based Glance’s ambition of building the biggest platform for NFT-based live gaming experiences for gen-Z, across markets, it said.

    The acquisition brings together Glance’s scale and lock screen-centric innovation with Gambit’s expertise and understanding of the gaming ecosystem. Glance Games – Glance’s lock screen gaming platform – has over 45 million monthly active users across Asia. Close to 70 per cent are in the age group of 18 to 34, while over 40 per cent of its gamers are female, the company shared.

    Gambit has deep experience in building platforms with high engagement and monetisation. Co-founded in 2015 by Yashashvi Takallapalli, Gaurav Konar, Ranaveer Sankieneni, and Deepak Venkatramani, the company owns and operates Nostragamus (Nostra Pro) – a popular gaming platform with fantasy sports, poker, rummy, quiz, and hyper-casual games. Over 100 million games have been played on the Nostragamus platform, and it has close to 10 million registered users.   

    Glance will leverage Gambit’s expertise to launch engaging live gaming experiences including tournaments, game shows, game streaming and multi-player games on lock screen. Gambit will also enable Glance to launch multiple casual-to-midcore games that can be enjoyed by diverse sets of gamers. In the coming quarters, Glance also plans to launch NFTs in live gaming. This will potentially enable creators, streamers and developers to monetise through assets and NFT-based game creation while giving gamers unique experiences that they love.  
    “Gaming is the most exciting content category across the world today and Gen-Z spends more time on gaming than on any other activity online,” said InMobi co-founder and Glance president and COO Piyush Shah. “Giving users live, connected, interactive gaming experiences on the lock screen is key to Glance’s vision of building the world’s largest live internet platform. We also aim to launch creator-led NFTs for live gaming which will generate unique ‘play-to-earn’ and ‘play-to-own’ possibilities for the entire gaming ecosystem.”

    “We have already started seeing great traction for live gaming on Glance. For instance, over 10 million users watch live game streams on Glance every week now. With Glance and Gambit’s combined strengths and our belief that there is a game for every person, we envision doubling the number of monthly active gamers on Glance Games in the next year,” added Gambit co-founder and CEO Yashashvi Takallapalli. 

    In February 2022, Glance had signed an agreement to raise $200 million funding from Jio Platforms to accelerate its global expansion. The company also entered into a business partnership with Jio through which Glance’s lock screen platform will be integrated into JioPhone Next smartphones. This integration is expected to further boost the reach of Glance Games.

  • Users want interactive, social experiences on smartphones during IPL: Study

    Users want interactive, social experiences on smartphones during IPL: Study

    Mumbai: The mobile users now look for more interactive, social experiences on their smartphones during live IPL matches, according to the report titled ‘IPL and the Second Screen’ released by Glance on Tuesday. 70 per cent of IPL viewers use smartphones during the matches, with the majority consuming cricket-themed content parallelly on various platforms, revealed the study.

    Expert commentary, live watch-along, polls and quizzes, contests, cricket games, and fantasy cricket were amongst top choices for content consumption on phones during the matches. Content-led marketing on the second screen emerged as one of the key strategies for brands to cut through the IPL media clutter, the report stated.

    Close to 70 per cent of respondents identified themselves as ‘die-hard fans’ of IPL, and 72 per cent said that they will be watching every IPL match. Findings further revealed that while 69 per cent watch IPL on television, 61 per cent said that they also watch matches on their smartphones. The study found that content themes that are gaining popularity include live reaction videos of celebrities watching matches, behind-the-scenes snippets, unknown facts about favourite players, and expert match analyses.

    The survey further asked these respondents about the types of content they would like to interact with during the IPL matches. 56 per cent said they would like to take part in live watch parties with celebrities, and 53 per cent said they would participate in social media polls and quizzes on the match. 49 per cent opted for cricket games or fantasy cricket on various apps, while an equal percentage of them said they would bet on live matches. For brands and advertisers, this showed that interactive content formats will be one of the biggest engagement drivers to connect with audiences during the IPL.

    The Glance report outlined strategies that brands can leverage to tap into this growing trend of consuming second screen content during the IPL. These included using branded storytelling around cricket, launching customized polls and quizzes, designing watch parties with celebrities, and more, on popular platforms.

    When asked about ads that audiences would not mind engaging with, 54 per cent of respondents chose branded polls and quizzes that test their cricket knowledge, closely followed by ads that involved winning a contest. 48 per cent of users preferred influencer and celebrity-led ads, with an equal percentage voting for ads that lead to good shopping or dine-out deals.

    “IPL is a social phenomenon, both in the offline and the virtual world. People not just love watching cricket, but also love engaging with mobile content that gives them a 360-degree experience of the IPL and allows them to become a part of a community,” said InMobi Group co-founder and president and Glance COO Piyush Shah.“The evolving nature of IPL and the rise of interactive cricket content consumption on second screens, led by smartphones, allows brands to cut through the clutter of IPL, and connect with their audiences in a meaningful and impactful way.”

  • Jio Platforms to invest $200 million in AI-powered Glance

    Jio Platforms to invest $200 million in AI-powered Glance

    Mumbai: AI-driven lock-screen platform Glance has announced that it has agreed to raise $200 million from Jio Platforms (“Jio”) in its Series D round of funding. The transaction is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

    The proposed investment by Jio is aimed at accelerating Glance’s launch in several key international markets outside of Asia such as the USA, Brazil, Mexico and Russia. The company is aiming to create the world’s largest live content and commerce ecosystem on the lock screen and will use the funds raised to expand globally. In addition to Jio Platforms, Glance is also backed by technology giant Google and Silicon Valley-based venture fund Mithril Capital.

    Concurrent with the proposed investment, Glance has also entered into a business partnership arrangement with Reliance Retail Ventures (“Reliance Retail”), providing for Glance’s ‘lock screen platform’ to be integrated into the JioPhone Next smartphones to transform the internet experience for millions of Jio users. This is the latest in a series of strategic partnerships between Glance and global players in the mobile ecosystem. The deal is also expected to lead to further strategic collaborations between Glance, Reliance Retail, and Jio across devices, commerce, content and gaming ecosystem.

    Glance will be integrated into the Pragati OS, which has been co-developed by Jio Platforms and Google, to bring LIVE content on Lock Screen for millions of Jio users. Its entertainment-led commerce platform Roposo will bring the power of live creator commerce to Jio users on their lock screen.

    Jio Platforms director Akash Ambani said, “Glance has grown at a phenomenal pace over the past two years and has given users a truly unique solution by unlocking the power of the lock screen for experiencing the internet, live content, creator-driven entertainment commerce, and gaming. With the help of this investment, Glance expects to launch in several key markets globally as well as to extend the experience to millions of Jio users, further reinforcing our commitment to provide the most advanced and next-level tech and digital ecosystem for consumers in India and beyond.”

    InMobi Group founder and CEO Naveen Tewari added, “Jio’s investment in Glance brings a deep synergy of vision and philosophy. Jio is a truly disruptive company. It made the internet accessible for millions of users, making India one of the largest internet markets in the world. Reliance is now disrupting the smartphone market with the launch of its JioPhone Next smartphones. Jio’s investment in Glance and Glance’s presence on the lock screen of JioPhone Next smartphones will lead to a paradigm shift in how its users experience the internet.”

    “Glance has created a disruptive lock screen-first discovery platform for live content, commerce and gaming in Asia, and we intend to scale it globally going forward,” shared InMobi Group co-founder and Glance president and COO Piyush Shah. “Jio’s investment is a huge validation of this vision and gives us the firepower to take the innovative experience of Glance to surfaces across the world. We look forward to working with Jio to build the content, creator and commerce ecosystem of the future together.”

    Morgan Stanley acted as the exclusive financial advisor and Khaitan & Co. acted as the legal counsel to Glance. White & Case and K Law acted as the legal counsels and Ernst & Young provided accounting and tax due to diligence services to Jio Platforms.

  • Roposo launches live entertainment commerce

    Roposo launches live entertainment commerce

    Mumbai: With an intent to disrupt the mobile and online commerce space, Roposo on Thursday announced the launch of a digital destination for creator-led, live entertainment commerce. According to a statement, the new offering will enable consumers to shop for top-notch products in real-time within a live, virtual mall environment.

    Shoppers on the Roposo will now be able to discover products recommended by creators through entertaining live streams, visit hundreds of creator-led pop stores, and get up close and personal with some of their favourite stars. While shopping across categories such as fashion & beauty, health & fitness, electronics, home décor, and lifestyle, they can simultaneously attend live events by some of Gen-Z’s favourite creators. Roposo will enable multiple features for social interactions on both sides of the screen in its live streams, the platform said in a statement.

    Going forward, creators can also have the opportunity to monetise their expertise by conducting paid masterclasses, and through ticketed live shows such as music concerts, stand-up comedy, talk shows, and fashion shows. 

    “While we have several big celebrities, the real hero for Roposo will be creators; be it the young fashion designer from Mangalore who wants to live-stream her collection on the platform and sell nationwide through her own pop store, or the indie rapper from Punjab who wants to reach millions through a ticketed concert,” stated Roposo vice president and general manager Mansi Jain. “We intend to be the platform of choice for enterprising creators, who are not only great entertainers, but are experts in their domain, have authentic connections with their audience, and are skilled at influencing buying decisions.”

    For its creators, Roposo will integrate a wide range of monetisation levers on the platform. Besides creating live experiences, they will be able to run their own multi-brand pop stores on the platform. With opportunities to go live on Glance lock screen, they can potentially have access to Glance’s user base of over 150 million in India alone, said the statement.

    In June this year, Glance had acquired the full-stack e-commerce platform Shop101. A business unit of Glance, Roposo intends to leverage Shop101’s technology, comprehensive supply chain infrastructure, and vast experience in managing end-to-end digital shopping to drive its commerce proposition. Glance also recently launched Glance Live which brings users some of the best of live content from across the internet on the lock screens of their smartphones. Roposo will be one of the major content developers on Glance Live. 

    “Our intent is to build the largest platform for creator-led live shopping in India, and take it to Southeast Asia and the USA in the coming quarters. There is rising global demand for immersive shopping experiences that closely replicate the offline world, online,” stated InMobi Group co-founder and Glance president & COO Piyush Shah. “As we have seen in other markets, live streaming commerce, conducted by talented creators, is becoming a successful way to meet that demand. With Roposo’s popularity amongst creators, the scale and Live stack of Glance, and the e-commerce infrastructure of Shop101, we are well poised to take this new Roposo experience out in a big way.”