Brands
Puma becomes official kit partner of Revenant Esports in India
Mumbai: Homegrown esports organisation, Revenant Esports, has announced sports brand Puma as their official kit partner for the upcoming season. This association came as one of the major non-endemic brand collaborations in the Indian esports industry. Under the terms of the partnership, Revenant’s creators and esports roster will don the exclusive kits produced by Puma.
With both brands sharing similar ideologies in terms of propelling esports to greater heights, they will leverage this association to make their presence felt among the community in India, said the company in a statement.
“Puma is one of the most successful sports brands in the world and it makes us extremely proud to be the first esports team in India to be associated with them. This partnership is a step in the right direction for Revenant Esports and a testament to our aim of enriching the experience of the community and our fans. Esports merchandise has become an integral part of the industry in the last few years, and seeing our athletes, creators, and fans wear the apparel produced by one of the world’s best is a privilege. Together, we hope to achieve immense success in the coming years and capitalise on the growing esports culture in the country,” said Revenant Esports founder and CEO Rohit Jagasia.
Puma has emerged as one of the top sports brands in India after generating record revenues last year and is also familiar with the esports industry, having partnered with numerous international organisations. By joining forces with Revenant Esports and their massive fanbase, they will look to maximise their potential in the Indian esports market.
Commenting on the occasion, Puma India executive director-retail Vishal Gupta said, “We are extremely excited to be associated with Revenant Esports as their official kit partner and become the first leading sportswear brand in the country to enter the deeply engaging space of esports. India is one of the biggest markets for the video gaming community and competitive esports is immensely influencing our youth across tiers.”
“That esports gets incorporated as a medal sport into the Asian Games next year is evidence of its huge popularity & potential today. As a brand, Puma strongly supports influences on youth culture such as sports, fitness, art, cinema, music, and now new age sports, i.e., esports. With this association, Puma & Revenant will leverage each other’s huge audience base and wide reach to connect with esports athletes in the country and penetrate deeper into the market,” he further added.
According to the recent Ficci-EY report, 100 brands have invested in Indian esports this year, compared to 72 in 2021. Similar to traditional sports, esports merchandise is an essential part of any organisation’s growth in the industry by raising brand awareness and cultivating fan loyalty among their ardent following.
Brands
Rakesh Menon joins Paytm as avp – lending
Fintech product leader takes on new role after building digital lending, payments and credit products across fintech ecosystem
MUMBAI: Rakesh Menon has joined Paytm as assistant vice president – lending, taking on a new role focused on strengthening the company’s lending and credit products.
Prior to this, Menon worked at Profectus Capital Pvt Ltd as chief manager – payments based financing and digital lending.
At Profectus, he designed and launched digital credit products for merchants with variable cash flows, including overdraft-linked and revenue-share lending models. He led end-to-end LOS–LMS API integrations with payment partners and aggregators, enabling real-time underwriting, disbursal and repayment workflows.
He also worked on funnel optimisation initiatives using journey analytics, improving onboarding, KYC and disbursal conversion by 35 per cent. He developed ecosystem partnerships for transaction-data-based credit assessment and automated settlement systems, and collaborated with credit and data science teams to strengthen risk models and early delinquency detection.
Menon standardised partner onboarding and API frameworks, reducing go-live timelines by 40 per cent and improving digital scalability.
Before Profectus Capital, he worked at PayU as senior manager – presales lead – enterprise business from August 2022 to August 2023. He set up a national presales function for fintech and digital commerce clients, aligning solutions such as EMI, BNPL, BBPS and offer engines to merchant requirements.
He also helped improve conversion rates by around 15 per cent through merchant persona mapping, demo frameworks and structured sales playbooks, working closely with product and go-to-market teams.
From April 2019 to July 2022, Menon served as business unit head – SMB – direct acquisitions at Worldline, where he built the SMB online payments vertical from scratch. The business scaled to Rs 2,500 crore in annual transaction volume, growing at 45 per cent year-on-year.
During this period, he introduced paperless onboarding processes including eKYC and eSign, developed partner dashboards and CRM automation systems, and integrated platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce and Tally to expand merchant adoption.
Across roles, Menon has worked across digital lending, payments and merchant financing, with experience in product development, ecosystem partnerships, API integrations and fintech-led growth strategies.
At Paytm, he will focus on scaling lending products and strengthening digital credit infrastructure within the company’s financial services ecosystem.
His appointment comes as fintech firms continue to expand their lending and embedded finance offerings in a competitive market.
