MAM
Eloelo app appoints Sagar Gaonkar as CTO
Mumbai: Eloelo, India’s homegrown live social media platform, is excited to announce the appointment of Sagar Gaonkar as its new chief technology officer (CTO). With over 16 years of video streaming and OTT technology expertise, Sagar will spearhead innovation, technological strategy, and compliance at Eloelo.
Sagar Gaonkar brings a wealth of experience from his previous roles at ShareChat and Disney+ Hotstar. At ShareChat, he excelled as an engineer lead, driving product conceptualisation and technical initiatives for Live streaming. His tenure at Hotstar & 100ms further solidified his reputation as a leader in the live streaming domain.
Commenting on the appointment, Eloelo founder & CEO Saurabh Pandey said, “We are thrilled to welcome Sagar as our chief technology officer for advancing our mission of being the digital companion for India’s youth via Interactive streaming & games. His deep understanding of the live streaming industry aligns perfectly with our focus on building a vertical social entertainment platform focused on live streaming across video & audio. Sagar’s expertise will be pivotal in scaling our platform and enhancing both user & creator experience.”
Speaking about joining Eloelo app, Sagar Gaonkar expressed his delight and added ”Joining Eloelo during a time of rapid growth in live streaming in India is incredibly exciting. I am deeply inspired by Saurabh’s mission to create a secure and interactive digital third place for India. My focus will be on expediting feature rollouts, enhancing platform stability, and ensuring a seamless and secure experience for our users & creators.”
Eloelo currently ranks in the top three on Google Play Store in the entertainment category and serves over 75 million users in India with content available in six Indian languages. The platform has raised over $37 million from global and national investors, including Courtside, Waterbridge Ventures, Griffin Gaming Partners, Lumikai Fund and Kalaari Capital.
Brands
Flipkart completes reverse flip to India ahead of IPO
Walmart-owned e-commerce giant shifts domicile from Singapore to Bengaluru
MUMBAI: Flipkart has completed its restructuring to move its parent company from Singapore back to India, marking a key milestone as the Walmart-owned marketplace prepares for a potential initial public offering on Indian stock exchanges, ET reported, citing people aware of the matter.
The move, often referred to as a “reverse flip”, relocates the company’s legal home to India and aligns its corporate structure more closely with its largest market. It also clears an important regulatory step for Flipkart as it explores listing plans.
As part of the restructuring, several Singapore-based entities have been merged into Flipkart Internet Private Limited, which will now serve as the main holding company for the entire group.
The consolidation brings a number of major businesses directly under the Indian parent company. These include fashion platform Myntra, logistics arm Ekart, travel booking platform Cleartrip, healthcare marketplace Flipkart Health, and fintech venture Super.money.
Under the new structure, global investors including Walmart, Microsoft, SoftBank, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board will hold their stakes directly in the Indian entity rather than through an overseas holding company.
The redomiciliation required approval from the Indian government because Chinese technology company Tencent owns around a 5 to 6 per cent stake in Flipkart. Under Press Note 3, investments from countries sharing a land border with India require prior government clearance.
Flipkart had already secured approval from the National Company Law Tribunal in December. With the latest clearance from the central government, the company has now obtained all the regulatory approvals needed to complete the relocation, ET reported earlier.
Flipkart had originally shifted its holding structure to Singapore in 2011 to tap global capital more easily. However, as India’s capital markets have matured, several start-ups have begun returning their domiciles to the country ahead of public listings. Companies such as Razorpay, Groww, and Meesho have taken similar steps.
The company is now expected to move ahead with its IPO preparations and has begun early discussions with merchant bankers. According to people familiar with the matter, Flipkart could file its draft prospectus later this year, setting the stage for what may become one of the most closely watched listings in India’s e-commerce sector.
Flipkart has been majority-owned by Walmart since 2018, when the US retail giant acquired a 77 per cent stake in the company for $16 billion in one of the largest e-commerce deals globally.
