MAM
K. Anand Raman joins JioStar as vice president
DELHI: K. Anand Raman has traded one Star for another. After nearly 18 years at Disney Star, the media executive has joined JioStar as vice president, marking one of the more notable defections in India’s rapidly consolidating entertainment industry.
Raman’s career reads like a roadmap of Indian broadcasting’s evolution. He joined Star India in 2008 as a senior executive, back when the network was still finding its feet in regional markets. Over nearly two decades, he climbed the ranks, eventually becoming director in 2021 while simultaneously holding the title of assistant vice president since 2017, a dual role that saw him oversee operations across multiple channels.
His most recent stint involved running the Maa Network, a Telugu-language cluster acquired by Star in late 2015. Raman’s job was to stitch the acquisition into Star’s broader regional strategy, a task that involved integrating teams, maximising revenue and building what corporate types call “synergies”. Before that, he led sales for Star’s English infotainment and lifestyle portfolio, including National Geographic and Fox Life, and managed advertising for Star Movies.
The move to JioStar, which began in November 2025, places Raman in Hyderabad at a moment when India’s media giants are locked in a brutal battle for eyeballs and advertising rupees. JioStar, the result of a mega-merger between Reliance’s Viacom18 and Disney Star, represents one of the largest entertainment consolidations in Indian history. For Raman, it is both a homecoming of sorts, given his Star pedigree, and a bet on the next phase of India’s streaming and broadcast wars.
Before his long Star tenure, Raman cut his teeth at Radio City, India’s first private FM station, where he handled key accounts from 2006 to 2008. Earlier still, he worked at Chitralekha Group, managing advertising for a leading Gujarati magazine, and did a brief stint at Bennett Coleman’s Times Syndication Service during the launch of Times Books.
Twenty-two years in media, multiple channel launches, regional integrations and now a vice president’s chair at a freshly minted entertainment behemoth. Whether JioStar proves to be Raman’s biggest stage yet or just another chapter in India’s endless media melodrama remains to be seen. Either way, he knows the script by heart.
Brands
SatLeo Labs raises $5.5m seed funding led by Unicorn India Ventures
Fresh capital to power thermal satellite mission and AI data platform
MUMBAI: SatLeo Labs has raised $2.2 million in a fresh seed round led by Unicorn India Ventures, taking its total funding to $5.5 million as it steps up efforts to scale its space-based thermal intelligence platform.
The funding round also saw participation from existing backers including Merak Ventures, Java Capital, IIMA-CIIE and deep-tech investor Manish Gandhi.
The capital will be used to accelerate SatLeo’s flagship thermal satellite mission and further develop its AI-powered platform designed to deliver high-resolution thermal and visible data from low Earth orbit. The company aims to turn this data into actionable insights for sectors ranging from climate monitoring to urban planning.
Over the past year, SatLeo has scaled rapidly, growing its team from 8 to 30 specialists across satellite engineering, thermal sensing and AI-led geospatial analytics. It has also achieved a key milestone with the development of its first experimental payload, TAPAS-1, which reached near flight-ready status within six months and is now positioned for launch.
On the ground, the startup has begun translating its technology into real-world use cases. Pilot projects in cities such as Ahmedabad and Tumakuru have focused on monitoring urban heat islands and air pollution, impacting over 400,000 citizens. At the same time, its commercial pipeline has expanded sharply, with letters of intent rising from around $15 million to over $42 million within a year.
SatLeo Labs co-founder and CEO Shravan Bhati said, “Sustainability has become imperative amid accelerating climate change and rapid urbanisation. This fundraise represents a critical milestone as we move into the execution phase of our next mission.”
He added that the company is focused on scaling its satellite constellation and enhancing payload performance to deliver thermal intelligence at a global level.
Backing the startup, Unicorn India Ventures managing partner Bhaskar Majumdar said, “Space is an arena where the next wave of technological innovation will emerge. SatLeo’s ability to combine thermal and visible satellite data into real-time insights positions it strongly for long-term growth.”
Looking ahead, SatLeo plans to focus on launch readiness, expanding commercial deployments and scaling its technology stack over the next 12 months.
As demand for climate and environmental intelligence grows, SatLeo’s latest fundraise signals rising investor confidence in space-tech solutions that bring data from orbit down to everyday decision-making.
