iWorld
Bing releases the top search trends of 2013
MUMBAI: Women are on top, literally! The 2013 search trends released by Bing that includes search data from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S, reveal that women ruled and were in the top searches. In eight of the 12 participating countries around the world, women were the most searched. Beyoncé reigned in the US, while Miley Cyrus’s highly publicised twerking made her the top-searched person in both Australia and Canada.
Former flames Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez were the most-searched people in the U.K. and Germany, respectively. Actress and actors Bruna Marquezine, Wen Zhang and Salman Khan were the most-searched people in Brazil, China and India, while singers Rihanna and David Bisbal ranked at the top for France and Spain, and gorgeous TV personalities Danmitsu and Belen Rodriguez were favorites in Japan and Italy.
It was also a year of American songs, superhero movies, Facebook love, high-end designer brands, controversial sports stars, European getaways and fierce women.
Bing search trends, found at www.BingTrends.com, indicate what has most captivated people around the world in 2013.
However, when it came to the top searches in India, surprisingly, it was not the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, who bid adieu to international cricket in 2013, who was searched the most. He was at number four, only after Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Katrina Kaif.
While he may have led the search among actors, Salman’s films did not feature in the top ten most searched films. The fast paced action flick Race 2 bagged top honours followed by Shahrukh starrer Chennai Express. And the surprise package among the top 10 Hindi movies was Nasha, starring Poonam Pandey. And Shah Rukh Khan may have missed top spot in the most searched actor and film, but his Lungi Dance from Chennai Express made it to the top of charts as the most searched song in India. This was followed by Party on My Mind from Race 2 and Challa from Jab Tak Hai Jaan.
Sports stars too were popular. While Sachin Tendulkar was the most searched among sports stars, young and feisty Virat Kohli too made it to the top ten. However, the surprise entry was sprinter Milkha Singh, proving that the biopic on him did arouse curiosity about him in the country. Shuttlers Jwala Gutta and Saina Nehwal made sure that their sport was represented in the top ten dominated by cricketers.
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.
