MAM
Vijay Amritraj’s First Serve inks marketing deal with USVO
MUMBAI: USA Video Interactive Corp. has signed a formal sales and marketing agreement with First Serve International, LLC (“First Serve”) in accordance with the memorandum of understanding that was signed by USVO and First Serve in May.
“We feel that USVO’s MediaSentinel product provides for a very strong deterrence and tracking tool against the menace of piracy and the billions of dollars lost to it,” said First Serve International chairman Vijay Amritraj.
First Serve has begun introducing MediaSentinel to post-production and production companies and studios around the world, especially in the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East where it has exclusive rights to market the digital watermarking tool.
MediaSentinel is an anti-piracy device that embeds “SmartMarks”- invisible forensic information in every frame of video content – providing the proof courts need to convict the individuals who steal the original material, thereby protecting intellectual property rights.
Its use by producers and distributors of film and television content allows unprecedented, secure access to a wide range of distribution markets and methods which otherwise represent a significant piracy risk.
As part of the agreement, First Serve has the rights to market and sell MediaSentinel on an exclusive basis in Asia, including Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East.
“For our company to have developed a strong foundation to enter the market through First Serve is a significant milestone for USVO. This allows us access to several regions of the world, which are plagued with piracy issues. With this formal agreement completed, we can move forward together to market MediaSentinel,” said USVO president Edwin Molina.
First Serve has an experienced executive team consisting of Vijay Amritraj, Edward Borgerding and Munish Gupta.
Amritraj is a tennis legend, successful actor, entertainment entrepreneur, television commentator and United Nations messenger of peace. Borgerding spent 20 years with The Walt Disney Company, most recently as executive vice president for Walt Disney International – Asia Pacific with overall responsibility for Disney’s extensive business interests in that region, including all studio divisions, consumer products, ABC Television and theme parks. Gupta, on the other hand is an accomplished former journalist, and over a 19-year period.
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
