Brands
1Crowd invests Rs 2.5 cr in media tech brand Voiro
MUMBAI: Bangalore-based startup Voiro, a unique revenue management suite for ad-led digital publishers, has attracted Rs 2.5 crore in a pre-series A-round of funding led by early stage investment fund 1Crowd and its investor community. The funds raised will be used by Voiro as growth capital for both domestic as well as international markets.
Voiro will use this investment to strengthen its team and platform. The company will also focus on building key partnerships as it aims to consolidate its India position and expand to new geographies. Voiro will leverage expertise from 1Crowd members to drive its ambitious plans. Cognizant Technology former executive vice president Mohan Kalyan will come on board as a director and will help Voiro during their next stage of growth.
Commenting on the investment, 1Crowd co-founder Anup Kuruvilla said, "1Crowd chose Voiro for its right blend of industry expertise and technological capabilities. We feel the analytics provided by Voiro are of great use to its clients as this helps not only to manage their inventory but also to monetize the same. The company’s deep understanding of the media industry and its pain points combined with a strong technology team that can build intelligent solutions to tackle these problems makes Voiro a company with strong potential in the digital publishing and advertising space.”
Voiro co-founder and CEO Kavita Shenoy said, “Voiro’s growth and technology curve has been steep since its inception, a testimony to its value proposition to the media, advertising, and digital publishing industry. We are glad for the investment from 1Crowd as it reaffirms Voiro’s strength and potential. These funds will enable us to write the next chapter in our growth as we look beyond the Indian market.”
Founded in 2014 by Kavita Shenoy and Anand Gopal, Voiro enables media and digital publishers through cloud-based technology solutions to achieve sharper monetization of their advertisements and helps to better leverage their data across sales, finance, and operations. Today, Voiro caters to a significant number of OTT players and digital publishers, making them one of the largest home-grown players in this space.
Voiro enables digital publishers by helping them to adapt to the changing content consumption pattern and helps manage their revenue better by streamlining workflow, harnessing data, and increasing efficiency through automation. Voiro currently powers some of the biggest OTT players, digital publishers, and media houses in India.
Brands
Rohini Laya Venkateswaran named executive director at Gillette India
P&G veteran with two decades of experience steps into leadership role
NEW DELHI: Rohini Laya Venkateswaran has been appointed executive director at Gillette India Pvt. Ltd., bringing with her more than two decades of experience across sales, strategy and brand leadership within the consumer goods sector. In her new role, she will help steer the company’s strategic direction and growth while strengthening its footprint in the grooming and personal care category.
Venkateswaran joins the board after a long career at Procter & Gamble, where she spent nearly 21 years shaping sales strategy, building brands and driving market expansion across India and international markets.
Most recently, she served as chief sales officer for India at P&G. Prior to that, she was vice president and country manager for east gulf markets, overseeing operations in Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar while also guiding sales strategy across the Gulf region, including the UAE.
Earlier in her career, she led sales strategy and planning for India while serving as marketing leader for brands such as Olay and Old Spice. During this stint, she focused on reshaping go-to-market channels and building awareness through digital, social and influencer-led campaigns to drive growth.
Her journey at P&G also included roles such as director sales strategy and planning leader India, associate director modern retail and ecommerce, regional manager for Delhi and Rajasthan, and several key account and trade marketing roles across the country. She also spent time in the United States working on the P&G Walmart international team, collaborating on global retail initiatives.
Venkateswaran holds an MBA in marketing from SP Jain Institute of Management and Research and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from RV College of Engineering.
With her mix of sales acumen, brand-building experience and global exposure, Venkateswaran’s appointment signals a sharpened focus on growth and market leadership for Gillette India.
