MAM
Komli Media gets Norwest Venture to lead funding round of $39 mn
MUMBAI: Media technology platform Komli Media Asia Pacific‘s has raised $39 million, bringing the total funds raised to $62 million.
Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) led the largest financing round with participation from Nexus Venture Partners, Helion Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Western Technology Investment.
The funds will be used to invest in the company‘s core media technology platforms and to expand its presence across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.
Komli Media CEO Prashant Mehta said, “We see significant long-term opportunity in bringing an integrated platform solution to the market. This financing will allow us to materially scale our platform and operations by investing in our Real-Time Bidding (RTB), data, analytics, and retargeting solutions to improve ROI for advertisers and yield for publishers. Our industry leading solutions will allow us to deepen our presence and engagement with customers and publisher partners across APAC.”
NVP MD Niren Shah said, “We are very pleased with the exceptional work done by Komli Media‘s leadership team in driving growth and establishing the company as the leader across APAC. With early investments in superior talent and its innovative platforms, the company is well positioned to capture a much larger share of digital media within some of the fastest growing markets in the world.”
Komli Media delivers an integrated platform across graphical media to help advertisers achieve their core objectives. The company offers services and technology like real-time display advertising (ATOM) and mobile (Komli Mobile) platforms to add value for its customers.
Komli Media has grown 150 per cent annually since 2009 and has over 5,000 leading publishers including exclusive relationships with Facebook and MSN in key markets. It reaches over 270 million users monthly and actively services more than 1,000 advertisers across the region. Komli Media serves over 38 billion monthly impressions, up from 10 billion 12 months ago. Its clients include Unilever, P&G, Citibank, Intel and Samsung.
MAM
VML India lands two finalist spots at Cairns Hatchlings 2026
The Mumbai agency is back in Australia with two teams, a UN brief and 24 hours to impress
MUMBAI: VML India is heading to Australia again. The Mumbai-based creative agency has secured two finalist spots at the Cairns Hatchlings 2026 competition, one in the Audio category and one in Design, making it the only Indian agency to have reached the finals in both editions of the contest since its launch in 2025.
Four people will make the trip. Senior copywriter Shilpi Dey and senior art director Raj Thakkar will compete in Audio. Art directors Shabbir and Shruti Negi will go head-to-head with the world’s best in Design. The finals take place at the Cairns Convention Centre from 13th May, culminating in an awards ceremony on 15th May.
The work that got them there is worth examining. For the Audio category, Dey and Thakkar tackled a brief for LIVE LIKE MMAD with a campaign called Inner Voice, Interrupted. Using spatial audio techniques, the campaign recreates the overwhelming self-doubt that descends after a long workday, physically panning negative thoughts left and right before cutting the noise entirely to reveal a confident inner voice. Strategically targeted at commuters via Spotify during evening rush hours, the campaign reframes the hours after work as an opportunity for personal growth and charitable action.
For the Design category, Shabbir and Negi worked on a brief for Canteen’s Bandanna Day, a campaign highlighting how cancer pushes teenagers out of their own defining moments. Using a pixelated design language to create stark contrast between a blurred world of isolation and a focused world of connection, the campaign, titled The Flipside of Cancer, shows teenagers fading into the background of birthdays, skateparks and school proms. As a Canteen bandanna appears, the blur flips and the teenager snaps back into sharp focus.
Kalpesh Patankar, group chief creative officer of VML India, made no attempt to disguise his satisfaction. “We are immensely proud to see our teams consistently excel on the Cairns Hatchlings platform since its inception,” he said. “They have masterfully tackled challenging briefs across diverse categories, demonstrating both layered storytelling and a unique creative approach. This exceptional teamwork is truly inspiring.”
Dey and Thakkar, returning to the finals after last year’s run, were candid about the demands of the audio medium. “It’s one of the most demanding mediums, where we only have a few seconds to capture a listener’s world with sound alone, so absolute clarity is essential,” they said. “The true measure of creative work is its ability to create positive change, and our audio submission was made to help those who need it most while encouraging people to silence the inner voices that hold them back.”
Shabbir and Negi, competing in Design for the first time, described the experience as “a completely different beast.” “We see it as an opportunity to showcase our expertise, raise the bar, and challenge ourselves in new ways, while also learning from creative minds from across the globe,” they said.
In Australia, the four finalists will face a live 24-hour brief from the United Nations before presenting in a live pitch session. Twenty-four hours, one brief, one shot. VML India has been here before. It knows exactly what is at stake.
