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ApnaCircle-Viadeo acquires social networking site Unyk
MUMBAI: The recently merged combined entity, ApnaCircle-Viadeo, has announced the acquisition of Unyk, a Canadian social networking site. This acquisition includes Unyk’s membership of 16 million users that is growing at a rate of 600,000 new members each month. |
Unyk members will now become ApnaCircle- Viadeo members, bringing the global network to over 25 million users and increasing the growth rate of over one million users per month. This acquisition will also help Indian members of ApnaCircle to double their reach and also help increasing the growth rate of ApnaCircle’s network to 150 thousand users per month. ApnaCircle founder and CEO Yogesh Bansal says, “This acquisition will help us to grow Indian market organically. This will also get us critical mass, while providing greater usability and value to our members through Unyk’s smart address book and synchronisation technology. We have been growing at a substantial pace and I am sure this acquisition will help us to grow further”. Viadeo CEO Dan Serfaty says, “This acquisition is highly complementary and more than doubles Viadeo’s network, while strengthening our global and local market presence. I believe we have significantly strengthened our market position and offering, particularly throughout Mexico, Brazil and India, and now have a North American presence, with four million members throughout Canada, the US and Mexico. “We’re building a global platform, but remain committed to developing local offerings specific to each market we service, one of our key competitive differentiators. On behalf of the management team and Board, I would like to welcome the Unyk team to our family.” Unyk is the first smart and private address book that updates itself and is used primarily by business professionals looking to keep multiple address books current with the latest and simplest technology. The company possesses technology services with its core differentiator, a synchronisation tool that enables members to seamlessly merge their address books from Outlook, webmail, cell phones and more. With Unyk, users are able to access a consolidated and up-to-date address book, anytime from anywhere. |
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
