Applications
IDG Ventures invests $3 million in Vserv
MUMBAI: IDG Ventures India, a venture capital fund that invests in technology-related product and services companies in India, has invested $3 million in Vserv, a mobile-In app advertising firm.
The investment represents the first VC investment in mobile advertising in India since 2008 and is the first institutional investment into Vserv. As part of the investment, Manik Arora and Karan Mohla from IDG Ventures will be joining Vserv‘s board of directors.
Commenting on this new investment, IDG Ventures India‘s founder and managing director Manik Arora said, “While the mobile advertising industry is still relatively young, it is experiencing rapid growth driven by mobile Internet growth and mobile apps growth. Within this, emerging markets are critical given their large and growing mobile phone installed bases – India alone has over 40 million mobile Internet users and the largest market for J2ME App downloads.”
With the rollout of 3G in India, consumption of mobile data-services and mobile apps is expected to increase. The mobile phone has transformed into an effective channel to receive advertisements and is increasingly becoming an important engagement tool for brands. Globally, the worldwide mobile advertising revenue is expected to exceed $3 billion in 2011 with Asia-Pacific being half the market.
The global In-App advertising market is expected grow from $900 million this year to roughly $5 billion in 2015 according to IDC.
Vserv Founder and CEO Dippak Khurana, said, “We are excited to have partnered with IDG Ventures, given their strong reputation in Internet and mobile in India, Asia and the US. With the funds, we plan to expand our sales and engineering teams to drive sales growth in India and internationally as well as further develop our monetisation solutions for the global App developer community.
Our unique App Ad-Wrapper technology for J2ME Apps has been well received by the global developer community as it can support over 500 phone models and allows both new and existing Apps to be Ad-Wrapped and monetized. With this funding, we will extend our offerings to Android Apps, which are increasingly becoming important in emerging markets.”
Applications
With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
