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Vdopia raises $4 mn from Nexus Venture Partners; gets new CEO
MUMBAI: Vdopia, the online and mobile video advertising network, has raised $4 million in its first round of funding.
Vdopia has got the funding from Nexus Venture Partners, a venture capital fund with a corpus of $320 million.
In a release, the company said the experience and expertise of the new investors will “help Vdopia to further accelerate and consolidate its leadership position”.
Vdopia has also announced appointment of Rohit Sharma as president and CEO.
“Building on its innovations in integrated video advertising platform, Vdopia is pioneering new, integrated advertising experiences for online consumers in India,” said Nexus Venture Partners co-founder and Vdopia board member Suvir Sujan. “We invested in Vdopia with the firm belief that digital content and new media markets show great potential for radical growth, and the founding team at Vdopia is accelerating innovation in a new generation of digital media platform for advertising in traditional online and new media markets.”
Vdopia claims that in a short span of two years, it has experienced enormous growth and is the leader in the online video monetisation space. Some of the available services from Vdopia are Talk2Me ad platform, Live Streaming Ad Insertion and Video pre rolls that have helped them achieve the default video monetization player in the market.
“Vdopia Ads are complimenting the TV campaigns and are now must buy for marketers,” added Vdopia co-founder Saurabh Bhatia.
Vdopia co-founder Srikanth Kakani added, “We are working towards our goal for making Vdopia the next great digital media company based on ground-breaking technology and tapping in to one of the largest markets in the world – advertising.”
Meanwhile, Sharma, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur with experience in the venture capital industry, will work with company co-founders. His mandate is to grow revenue and lead the company to develop new business models for digital media.
Sharma has held technology leadership roles with companies as ONI Systems. As EVP and CTO of ONI Systems, Sharma created the optical switching technology that paved the way for the foundation of ONI in 1997. He also was a member of the investment team at Mohr, Davidow Ventures (MDV) in the IT area before arriving at Vdopia.
“Advertisers are always looking to meet the needs of consumers, to respond to emerging technologies, and Vdopia is perfectly placed to lead the way. As more consumers come online and spend an increasing amount of time online, Vdopia is very well positioned to drive the monetisation of this market trend. This investment by Nexus will give us the resources to execute our growth plans and transform the advertising experience for brand advertisers and consumers alike,” Sharma said.
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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.
