Rolling Stone India & Man’s World publisher acquired by Sajan Raj Kurup’s VC arm Ventureland Asia

Ventureland Asia plans to create an omnichannel digital-oriented growth strategy for Rolling Stone India and MW.

Mumbai-based venture capital company, Ventureland Asia Advisory Services, has acquired the controlling stake in MW.Com India, the publisher of magazines like Rolling Stone India and MW (Man's World). MW.Com Pvt Ltd (MCPL) was till recently owned by the publishing company, Spenta Multimedia.

MCPL has published Rolling Stone India since 2008. Rolling Stone India is the Indian edition of Rolling Stone, the world's biggest music and pop culture magazine. MW, which is in its 21st year, is India's first men's lifestyle magazine.

Ventureland Asia plans to use its strong presence in areas of marketing, brand building, visual communications, and new-age technology to chart an omnichannel digital-oriented growth strategy for Rolling Stone India and MW.

This has been an active year for Ventureland Asia’s business in India. It acquired a 40 per cent stake in Revenant Esports, the fastest-growing gaming company in India. Another high-profile investment was the launch of Saintfarm, a new end-to-end e-commerce venture in organic and sustainable food. The fund has thus far invested in Media, E-commerce, Education, Healthcare, Agri-Tech and Esports – with technology innovations as the common investing theme.

Sajan Raj Kurup, Creator-Investor and Founder, Ventureland Asia, the investment arm of Creativeland Asia, said, “I have closely witnessed transformation in media consumption, media buying and media marketing. Rolling Stone India and Man’s World enjoy high levels of credibility and loyalty among its target audience. Piggybacking on that, we will bring in advanced tech interventions, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to better understand the reader and transform the hardcopy publishing to an omnichannel digital-first magazine.”

Radhakrishnan Nair, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Rolling Stone India and MW said: "Ventureland Asia's acquisition of MCPL comes amidst the major churning that is happening on the Indian media landscape. Ventureland Asia founder Kurup's investment expertise in digital technology and marketing acumen will be crucial as Rolling Stone India and MW work towards transforming into platform agnostic magazines, with a strong presence in the digital sphere and print."

Maneck Davar, Chairman & Publisher, Spenta Multimedia Pvt Ltd, who retains a minority stake in the company said, "MCPL needed a new orientation and direction which was more digital and experiential focused, and Creativeland Asia was a perfect fit. We are sure with the combined experience of the leadership the products will become stronger in their respective spaces."

About Creativeland Asia:

Creativeland Asia is one of India’s largest and most sought-after independent communications companies. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with a full-service office in Delhi-NCR.

Founded in 2007 by Sajan Raj Kurup, Creativeland has always believed that nothing moves the human race forward like creativity does.

Today, Creativeland provides a great platform for creative minds to come together to design solutions and opportunities for brands. It offers an integrated approach – with Creativeland Advertising, CLA Design Lab (branding and design), Creativeland Technologies (tech solutions) and Creativeland Productions (long and short format video content), providing brands with the expert solutions they require.

About Ventureland Asia Advisory Services:

Ventureland Asia is an India registered INR 100 crore Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) focusing on early stage and seed investments in start-ups.

Ventureland Asia was founded in 2017 by Sajan Raj Kurup, the Chairman and Founder of Creativeland Asia.The fund has invested in E-commerce, Education, Healthcare, Agri-Tech and Esports.