iWorld
GroupDrop Online launches social e-commerce portal in india
MUMBAI: Doing It Together has always been an entertaining affair. From picnics to assignments to sharing quality time with family, all of us have memories of doing unforgettable things together. These memories are hitched with us forever and are cherished for a lifetime. Inspired from this feeling of doing it together, GroupDrop Online has launched first of its kind social e-commerce portal in India with an aim to bring a change on how consumers perceive and buy products of their choice online. GroupDrop aims at leveraging the power of community purchase by bringing the like-minded consumers together and buy products at the best possible price.
The idea came to Gaurav Kapadia when he heard of a group of people in India who bought 150 high end luxury cars together at a discounted rate. This was such a big announcement that the CEO of the luxury car brand went down along with his senior management team to hand over the keys to the buyers. Gaurav soon roped in Shyam Gursahani and both of them then developed a business model to help like-minded people to meet with one another, on a common platform, share opinions and buy the products of their choice at an irresistible price. The portal will be dealing with wide range of products across automobile, audio, gaming and photography genres.
Speaking on the launch, GroupDrop director Shyam Gursahani said, “This is a proud moment for both Gaurav and I. We aim to connect people with similar likes and provide them with a common platform, where they can discuss all the pros and cons before buying a product. We want to leverage the power of the people in community purchase. This will help us become the preferred space to help consumers buy what they need and not what is offered at the best price, and promote the experience of #DoingItTogether.”
GroupDrop aims to grow and offer more choices to the customers. All products on GroupDrop are chosen, created, or inspired by people, which are called ‘drops’. Consumers can search for products they want, and discuss and vote for the products they would like to buy. Once the consumer decides what product they’d like to buy together, GroupDrop contacts the vendor directly on behalf of them to get a great group discount, and allows the consumer to buy the product by joining the drop.
Gaming
MTG gaming chief Benninghoff joins NODWIN board as esports firm primes for IPO
The Gurugram-based esports firm is pursuing a public listing, has returned to profitability and is growing revenues by 42 per cent
GURUGRAM: NODWIN Gaming is moving fast. The Gurugram-based gaming and esports company has launched a pre-IPO fundraising round, appointed UBS as lead adviser for both the round and a subsequent public listing, and landed a heavyweight board director, all in one go.
The new board member is Arnd Benninghoff, executive vice president of gaming at Stockholm-listed Modern Times Group (MTG), who has overseen the group’s strategic investments and portfolio growth since 2014. He is no stranger to building things: Benninghoff has founded and built fifteen companies, served as chief digital officer at ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, managing director of SevenVentures, and chief executive of Holtzbrinck eLAB. He began his career as a journalist at Deutsche Presse Agentur and various TV networks, holds a Diplom-Kaufmann in business and administration from the University of Münster, and previously sat on the board of Edgeware AB.
The numbers back the ambition
NODWIN is not pitching a story without substance. The company has returned to EBITDA profitability and posted a 42 per cent year-on-year revenue surge, reaching $58.5m in the first nine months of FY2026. The pre-IPO round will combine a primary issuance to fund global expansion through organic growth and acquisitions, alongside a secondary sale to give existing shareholders some liquidity.
Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of NODWIN Gaming, said Benninghoff understands “the entire lifecycle of the gaming and media ecosystem, from the boots-on-the-ground reality of building startups to the strategic complexity of managing multi-billion dollar global portfolios.”
Benninghoff, for his part, said the company “sits at the intersection of sports, entertainment, and technology, making it one of the most exciting players in the global gaming landscape today.”
A portfolio built for the global south
Founded in 2014 by Rathee and Gautam Virk, NODWIN has quietly assembled one of the more compelling esports portfolios outside the Western hemisphere. Its properties include DreamHack India and Comic Con India, and it recently acquired StarLadder, the Ukraine-based tournament organiser behind premier events in CS:GO and Dota 2. The company also serves as a long-term strategic marketing partner for the Evolution Championship Series (EVO), the world’s most prominent fighting game tournament, helping push it into new geographies.
Its geographic focus spans South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Backers include Nazara Technologies, KRAFTON, Sony Group Corporation, JetSynthesys, and the founders’ investment vehicle Good Game Investments.
What comes next
With UBS running the books, a board freshly reinforced with European media and gaming expertise, and revenue heading in the right direction, NODWIN is laying the groundwork deliberately. The esports industry has burned investors before with big promises and thin margins. NODWIN’s return to profitability, combined with a real portfolio of owned intellectual properties across gaming, music and youth culture, gives it a more credible runway than most. The IPO clock is now ticking.
