Aditya Pandit
Associate Director
Carat India
I live and breathe video games, having worked in a variety of roles from retail to game development with a focus on result-driven strategies and return on investment.
Been around in the game industry for over 17 years with 20+ games to his credit. Having worked on AAA titles like Battlefield, Resident Evil, Speedy Gun Savage and many others for various platforms like consoles, VR, PC and mobile, Vishnu is considered a pioneering force in the game industry. Vishnu has been a speaker and mentor at various industry events and has been an advocate of high fidelity games using Unreal engine. Vishnu has been championing various new initiatives at Gamitronics like virtual production, motion capture, metahuman etc. Currently Vishnu is serving as Studio Head and Art Director at Gamitronics.
Vaishali comes with a vast IT experience in various domains like BI, Big Data Analytics, Healthcare, Banking, US Mortgage and is now working with the most exciting & challenging Gaming Metaverse Domain with Kwalee's CTO, COO & CEO on building Technical Roadmap which would increase company's revenue by optimizing the cost to support company's strategy.
She is overseeing the Technical resource hiring & End-2-End Technical projects to support efficiency & soundness & improve in-house standards of the projects. Along with that, she also does researching & Implementing new technologies to keep up with the growing gaming industry and to create massively popular games that would be fun and exciting for the game users to play.
A teacher turned gamer and now esports commentator and sports as well. A host and also with a keen interest in space science.
Mohan Kuldeep Ponnada is a serial entrepreneur and the Founder of Metapolis. Having completed his education from Melbourne, Australia, Mohan worked as a consultant with various international companies providing technical solutions on IT & Mobile technologies before turning entrepreneur. He is one of the youngest authors to have published Textbook chapters on Transmitting Multimedia Content over 3G & 4G Mobile Systems, Search, Visualisation and other areas in major international textbooks and journals.
Mohan has over 15 years of strong functional expertise, exposure to global markets in product development, growth strategy and global delivery. Mohan is a published author, a highly accomplished expert in AR, VR, Machine learning, AI, Cloud-Powered SOA, Architecture Design, Product Strategy, User Experience and Game Development. Mohan is a futurist & believes technology is the bridge between physical and digital. He is passionate about bringing immersive experiences powered by blockchain to the next billion.
Been around in the game industry for over 17 years with 20+ games to his credit. Having worked on AAA titles like Battlefield, Resident Evil, Speedy Gun Savage and many others for various platforms like consoles, VR, PC and mobile, Vishnu is considered a pioneering force in the game industry. Vishnu has been a speaker and mentor at various industry events and has been an advocate of high fidelity games using Unreal engine. Vishnu has been championing various new initiatives at Gamitronics like virtual production, motion capture, metahuman etc. Currently Vishnu is serving as Studio Head and Art Director at Gamitronics.
Joined dentsu Group in mid - August 2021, as Chief Digital Growth Officer - dentsu Media & CEO - iPROSPECT prior to that he was the Chief Digital Officer @ Mindshare & was part of the group for over 17 years, overseeing the digital function for Mindshare Network, (MS, mSIX & NEO). He continuously used to ensure & assure that with clients we always try to give innovative solutions.
He was a key pillar responsible to get mobile advertising to the level that it has reached today. he had set up the largest mobile practice at GroupM in 2009 & then CEO as Madhouse which was a WPP company 4 years before going back to Mindshare.
Graduate of IIM-Kozhikode, Soumya is an FMCG professional with 10 years of experience across sales & marketing, personal care and food & beverage industries. Currently, she is the marketing head for Dairy business and brands in Nestle India. She's a passionate marketeer, ever so excited to be on the leading edge of digital.
A doctor by profession and a gamer by passion, Rushindra was always into video games.
Sinha played LAN tournaments as far back as 2000-2001, and wanted to learn how to code computer games so he could create his own version of the world. During his spare time he would spend hours playing online games like Ragnarok Online and World of Warcraft.
Upon graduating in 2017 from Stanford University, he was sure about his mega move into the esports space and after gaining experience working multiple part time jobs in the gaming space, founded Global Esports in early 2017 and incorporated with his cofounder, Mohit Israney in late 2018.
Roland is an accomplished leader from the Media, Entertainment and Sport Industries with over 23 years of experience in Business Strategy, Marketing, Brand Management, Sponsorship and Sales. His last assignment was of the Chief Brand Officer at Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited.
Roland has managed the launch of "Sportshero" India's first online Fantasy Gaming Brand in 2009. He is a keen student of digital marketing and social media marketing, digital content creation and delivery platforms.
Roland is strategic, proficient in Brand Valuation methodologies fascinated with ideas and has built strong relationships with the World's best speakers in Academia, Media and Marketing Communications.
From the outset of his career in 2015, where Rohin created and produced gaming content for PC Peasants Gaming, he has worked alongside gaming brands such as Nvidia and PUBG Mobile, where, as an influencer, he launched the first mobile community tournament in India. Rohin hosted the English panel of the PUBG Mobile All Stars event by Tencent and the English broadcast of the PMCO Spring Split as well as working alongside notable gaming influencers in India. At Garena, he led the BOOYAH! the team between 2020 and 2021, creating multiple IP's around the creators across games such as Free Fire, GTA Online, and Fall Guys. He was also a major stakeholder in the launch of BOOYAH! Esports in 2021.
Richa graduated from IIT Kharagpur inA Aerospace Engineering. Later pursued MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. She has worked as a financial consultant and a banker in her past life withOliver Wyman, Merrill Lynch and Capital One in India, Singapore, Hong Kong and the USA. Later on she went on to become a serial entrepreneur. She is the founder of FanClash, leading esports fantasy start-up of Asia, backed by Sequoia , Polygon , Falcon Edge and Info Edge Ventures. She currently runs a team of 200 people out of Gurgaon. FanClash operates in India and Philippines and the company is looking at further international expansion in the coming year.
A serial entrepreneur and an avid gamer at heart, Ninad has over 25 years of experience in gaming and the interactive media space.
Over the past 25 years, Ninad has followed his interest in building fun and creative experiences and continues to create stories and experiences that have been conveyed across mediums like games, apps, websites, edutainment, AR, and VR experiences, etc through his various ventures.
Ninad has recently joined Reliance Games as their Senior Vice President and is responsible for strategic alliances, publishing, and business development both at the global level as well as in India where he oversees scaling the India-focused business vertical, Zapak.
He is also a strategic advisor to GoPhygital, a Web3 and Metaverse-focused award-winning venture providing immersive solutions in the Enterprise Metaverse domain using Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, AI-ML, and Gaming/Gamification as the four core offerings. Before moving to an advisory role, Ninad was the Chief Metaverse Officer of GoPhygital.
Over the years, Ninad has held leadership roles at premium mobile apps and game development companies in India such as Robosoft Technologies, Nazara Technologies, Reliance Games, and Indiagames where he was instrumental in their growth.
Ninad's foray into gaming began when he co-founded Indiagames Ltd., India's first gaming company that was later acquired by Walt Disney (India) and played a key role in building the organization to become a leading global mobile game publisher in its early days.
Over the years, Ninad has been affiliated with associations like the NASSCOM Gaming Forum (NGF) and the FICCI Animation and Gaming Forum. He is also a member of the Internet and Mobile Association India (IAMAI) AR/VR Committee which aims to promote Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality technology to drive economic growth, job creation, and skill development in the country and is also a member of the CII Sub-Committee on AVGC & Immersive Media. Ninad regularly speaks at conferences, both in India and internationally, on topics covering App Development, AR/MR, VR, AI-ML, and Gaming/Gamification.
Manasi Narasimhan joined Mastercard in October 2017 and is responsible for all advertising, promotions, co-marketing campaigns and all communication both internal (employees) as well as external (all media relations). Her responsibilities include positioning Mastercard as a key supporter and partner of the government's digital & cashless India initiatives, enhancing the equity of Mastercard, working with the bank and merchant teams on unlocking growth and finding ways to drive long term revenue with consumers
Manasi began her career with Hindustan Unilever Limited, where she held several positions in sales and marketing. More recently, she was with the Godrej Group in a leadership role, heading the corporate brand.
Kartik has done his MBA from IIFT, Delhi and B.Tech in electronics and telecommunications from University of Pune. He has worked as a software developer with FiS as a build and configuration manager and transitioned into doing facility management services, contracting and handicrafts. In 2013 - 14 he set up a world class cold storage facility from scratch, he then went on to grow in the sector and is today an expert on technology and cold chain.Indicold was started in year 2019.
Armed with a Bachelors and Masters in Manufacturing Engineering at Cambridge University, along with a MBA from INSEAD, Karan has worked over 14 years in entrepreneurship, business operations, supply chain, project management, infrastructure, Corporate Finance in the India/ Middle East. Post the same-he he was Director at Clairfiled International Investment Bank, and also a Director at JADE Advisors, a global placement agent. He is now MD at Brinc India, and excited to use his entrepreneurship and management experience coupled with investing, to support early stage founders and create game changers
A Stanford Graduate with exceptional expertise in Marketing & Business, she is the mind behind some of the most memorable company-wide initiatives that encompass both clients and employees. Heeru has spent more than a decade at Dentsu and is responsible for numerous successful ventures like WATConsult. In her current role, she leads all client relationships and P&Ls across Dentsu Creative India service line.
She has been awarded at the 'Campaign's Women Leading Change' for three years consecutively and recognised at the Top Ten Digital Pioneers in the country by IMPACT. She has been a jury member at several prestigious national and international awards shows and regularly invited as speaker/mentor at leading management institutions in the country.
Gayatri Makhijani has over 14 years of experience in building brands for the digital world with a specialized focus on media, digital + ecomm and social media marketing. She has worked for top tier brands including Intel, Amazon and Yahoo. She currently heads Brand, Creative & Media at Intel India, including brand-led campaigns, creative and media agency mandates and holistic media and content strategy, planning and measurement. Previously, she was the digital brand manager at Amazon, working across its portfolio of brands, including Kindle, Amazon.in and Amazon Fashion. Prior to Amazon, she worked at Yahoo as a senior strategist and brand solutions lead and a host of creative agencies including SapientNitro, Rediffusion and MTV. Over her career, she has received 24+ creative and media awards, including Effies, Abbys, Webbys, YouTube leaderboard, etc. She has also invested in training undergraduate mass communication students in digital marketing and social media.
Chaitanya has had a multi-faceted 2-decade career in the Film & Creative Arts industry. He has been instrumental in the strengthening of Film & Creative Arts education in India and the evangelizing of multiple new & emerging technologies both into the mainstream education at Whistling Woods and into the Film, Media & Entertainment industry at large, through setting up of Research & Development labs, in partnership with several global Media technology giants, at the Whistling Woods campus in Mumbai.
He also currently serves on the global Board of Governors of the SMPTE and is the Cinematic Virtual Reality co-leader for Asia Pacific for the global VR/AR Association. He is also a strategic advisor to several startups in the M&E, Technology & Education verticals.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ipatelbharat
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chaitanya.chinchlikar77
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CChinchlikar
Bharat Patel is a business leader with over 30 years of technical experience and entrepreneurial aptitudes. He is appreciated for his valuable contributions to Information Technology in India and currently presides over Yudiz Solutions Ltd.Mr. Patel is a business leader with over 30 years of technical experience and entrepreneurial aptitudes. He has a degree in Electronics and Communications and a history in extensive research at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and ISRO, where he designed Microcomputers and Integrated Circuits. Mr. Patel's ultimate mission is to leverage innovative IT solutions and products to bridge the visible gap between industries, employers, policymakers and educators. Notable Contributions are Vice-Chairman, Gujarat Innovation Society, Technology Strategist, GESIA IT Association, Director at Fetuz Hatcher Private Limited, Advisor and Board member of IIMTS, Trustee at Society of Promotion of Technical Education and Research (SOPTER).
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ipatelbharat
With 7 years of experience behind him , Aditya Pandit has evolved to have an end to end expertise in the Digital marketing space.
He has a particular penchant towards strategy, planning & client servicing. He finds joy in building the bridge between brands and audience with an aim to drive business outcomes to brands and value to their audience.
Being an avid gamer himself, it has been a merry experience for him to blend his passion with work. Helping brands make the best of the gaming world is now his holy grail.
Surojit is the co-founder of Firescore Interactive, one of the top hypercasual studios in India with 3 chart-topping hit games - Soap Cutting, Acrylic Nails and Hair Dye. Firescore Interactive was acquired by CrazyLabs in September 2022, and Surojit is now the Head of Studio at CrazyLabs India.
With over two decades of experience, Sharmilee Daru has been a mentor and a change-maker in the PR and communications area that led to her founding �Sharmilee Daru PR�, and its new division �4WD Gaming�. Today, recognised as one of the pioneers of focused and curated communication for gaming solutions in the country, she is at the forefront in creating flourishing brands by providing them guidance, training, and strategic direction. Her mission is to contribute significantly to the growth of the Indian gaming sector, creating exceptional work that helps international brands consolidate and establish themselves in the Indian gaming ecosystem. In the past, she has worked with and consulted multiple brands and goliaths like Reliance Industries Ltd. and Hindustan Unilever Ltd.
Siddharth started his journey by being a struggling professional player who failed to make it, pivoting to the business side of the gaming industry, he ran the first ever collegiate league in the Middle East, and helped pioneer the road to esports for brands like ASUS,MSI, BENQ, Virgin, Sony, Samsung aomg a few. He is currently serving in Galaxy Racer since its inception as the Chief Gaming Officer, ad also built their teams business, Nigma Galaxy also serving as its Chief Strategy Officer
Part of Indian Television Group Anil Wanvari, is the founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of the Indiantelevision.com group. He has spent more than 37 years in the media industry and is considered India's foremost analyst, consultant and catalyst for the media sector. It achieves this through its various B2B and B2C portals: indiantelevision.com (for the cable, satellite, OTT, production, advertising, marketing, media industries), tellychakkar.com (TV show and actor news for TV fans), AnimationXpress.com (for the VFX, comics, gaming, and animation segments) and radionandmusic.com (for the FM radio, digital music and music industry). He is also a well known Television/Digital Producer known for producing The Indian Telly Awards for the last 16 years and oodles of digital content. It engages with industry by organizing thought leadership forums under its various verticals: Video and Broadband Summit, RadioConnex Awards, News Television Awards ,BrandVid, The Content Hub, Kids Animation & More, etc.
Ravi has been in the Indian Gaming Industry since 2003, first as a gamer, then heading gaming divisions before establishing GoLive Games.
Megha Nair is an industry expert with over 16 years of experience in Digital Advertising with considerable marketing experience at the client's side too. She is currently leading Digital for South and West at Carat India and leading the dentsu gaming practice in India. Megha has worked across many industries, with clients like Intel, Tata Neu , Tata Croma,Hindustan Unilever, Perfetti , ITC , Dabur , Hero MotoCorp, Google, Hero MotoCorp, American Express, Pernod Ricard and Nestle Megha has been recognized as the Leader in advertising by Adgully and was under the Top 40 under 40 list by social samosa in 2022.
A veteran of Indian Media, Advertising & Marketing industry, Anita is currently the COO-Media , Branding & Communication at Patanjali Ayurved Ltd where she is responsible for streamlining the entire function working on growth strategies. She was been heading the Customer Strategy & Relationships for ZEE5, supporting them in increasing their yearly revenue by over 50% . She has worked with large advertising agencies & publishers including Ogilvy, Lowe Lintas, Mediacom, Starcom, Bennett Colemen Group and Havas Media Group. She grew the Havas Media Group as CEO-India & SEA, 13 times in 13 years and launched many markets in the SA region.. With a Masters in Management and academics in Microbiology & Medical technology she has strategically used the combination of Art & Science & credited with setting up & growing businesses across organisations. An active speaker, panelist, moderator, jury member and judge, her viewpoint is well respected in the Media & Advertising industry She has several accolades to her credit - Impact top 50 women in media, marketing & communication for many years, CEO of the year- APAC (2018) , Vision leader of the year APAC - (2019) by Campaign Asia, Women Disruptor Life time achievement award by Adgully (2022), Most Influential women in Marketing & Advertising (2022) . She is also the National President for Digital Council for WICCI and an independent director on the board of many media companies.
Ayush is an ad tech evangelist and a seasoned professional with over 12 years' of experience in the media and technology space. His exhaustive experience in adtech, martech, programmatic and data engagements paired with his knack for sales and strategy has helped him establish himself as a leader in the media and tech industry. Ayush is passionate about helping brands unlock the power of esports advertising and craft valuable engagements with gaming audiences. He has previously worked with Affle, Paytm Ads, Lenskart, Mettl etc. and currently he leads business and growth at Rooter, a game-streaming and esports platform.
Sameer Ganapathy is a senior executive turned entrepreneur with over 27 years of experience in Web 3.0, media & entertainment, gaming, health technology & consumer products industries. He was leading Disney India's Interactive vertical till 2017 and held senior management and board positions at Disney India, UTV, Sony & Discovery Networks. Has successfully launched startups in health technology & Consumer Products. Co Inventor of Medical Devices & advanced analytical systems. He is currently the Co Founder of Studioverse and Partner for the Media Tech vertical for Anthill Ventures
Coming from a strong marketing background and working with the likes of Amazon, Intel, OnePlus, and more, Rohit Agarwal has carved his name in the Gaming Ecosystem as a brand expert in the past 2 years. He is currently the Founder & CEO of Alpha Zegus, one of India's leading gaming marketing agencies, with a wide pool of brands and gaming talents under their umbrella.
A multi-faceted strategist; Richard cares deeply about the transformative impact that emerging technologies can bring for customers, businesses and the communities they serve. Richard is Dentsu's lead integrated strategist in APAC; he is responsible for developing multi-disciplinary strategies to create real growth for our clients. Richard has spoken at AdFest on the topic of integrating big and small data, his writings on new approaches to marketing effectiveness, the future of commerce, and marketing in challenging economic conditions have appeared in WARC and Campaign.
A Northwestern Kellogg University alumnus. Jayendra began his prominent stint with PlayerzPot as a product manager in 2017. His excellent grasp on customer-centric user experience has brought him into product development. He completed PlayerzPot's crucial transition from website to a mobile interface in 2018 in less than 3 months. That was his first mobile app launch prioritizing UX, which he has followed up with 300+ product releases ever since. As the AVP-product, his top priority is to enhance user experience by leveraging new technologies and strategies in close coordination with the engineering, marketing, and design teams in PlayerzPot.
Parth Chadha is a serial entrepreneur and Co-Founder & CEO of esports fan engagement startup STAN. Since his teenage years, Parth developed a keen interest in exploring the gaming industry. Realizing that the gaming and esports industry is going to be growing phenomenally in the near future, Parth previously founded EWar Games in 2019. where he eventually led the company's growth and scaling to flying heights! He also has had a progressive experience of 5+ years in tech, and had spent around 3 years working with JP Morgan building internal fin-tech solutions in the investment banking space.
Sandrina Paula is the Vice President of international partnerships at GuardianLink - the brand behind the NFT gaming platform/marketplace Jump.trade. Her experience in handling critical projects at HCL and FedEx, her penchant for blockchain and its manifestations, her inclination towards art and music, and her prowess in forging meaningful business relationships come in handy in giving GuardianLink the much-needed edge in the highly competitive international markets. Her interests in fashion and her capacity to understand Gen-Z consumers have complemented her socially and environmentally responsible endeavors, making her a holistic ambassador of the new-age decentralized digital world!
Prasad heads strategy, fund management, and venture-building at Anthill Ventures. Over the last three decades, Prasad has led corporate consulting assignments for large organizations like Nike, Nestle, Novartis, and Google; set up and scaled ventures in technology and media; and invested in and provided support to help Anthill's portfolio companies achieve rapid growth. Anthill is a 'speed-scaling ecosystem' and early-stage investor in more than 70 start-ups in India, the US, Europe, Israel, and SE Asia across four verticals - Consumer & Media Tech; Healthcare; Urban Tech; Web3 & the Metaverse.
Santosh Pecheti is a well-known early-stage startup investor and the founder of multiple top gaming startups in India, like 7Sea Esports and AA Gaming. He started 7Sea Esports in 2020 and was one of the very few in the industry to raise a multi-million dollar from internationally backed gaming giants like Ampverse. Today, he spearheads Ampverse-backed 7Sea Esports divisions in India as Director of Esports. He played an instrumental role in the teams' success in the recently concluded BMSD LAN event, and 7Sea played in the recently concluded PMWI as India's representative on the world stage.
Android Gamer aka Aman Dubey, 24 is a popular Indian Gaming Creator with the rise of BGMI, Android Gamer created a unique fanbase of a Young gaming audience. Popularly known for his unique gaming skills. Android Gamer is an emerging gaming creator with an outlook to be one of the top creators in India.
Savage Girl aka Monika, 24, thundered the Indian Gaming Industry with the unique Lifestyle x Gaming Content Creation. Part of Facebook and Youtube's young women content creator program. Savage Girl has worked with AMD, Glance, Loco, Cosmic Byte, etc major endemic and non-endemic brands.
Founder of House of gaming, a metaverse company focusing on Esports and gaming in the metaverse, with its arms into IGL - Indian Gaming League a competitive esports platform hosting over a 100 daily tournaments, Gamegods a Web 3.0 exclusive social network for gamers and Hefty games: Gamings most interoperable market and enabler for NFT's, Esports and more in Web 3.0 and beyond.
Jai Shah is the Co-Founder and Head of Revenue Management of Orangutan India. Coming in with years of experience in business and strategy consulting, project management, research, and development and more, Jai is responsible for building the esports, talent management and apparel verticals of Orangutan. He has previously been associated with organizations like Percept Limited, BHyve, The Alpha Urbane Project and more. Aside from his professional endeavors, Jai is passionate about providing accessible education and is a Mentor at LeverageEdu where he mentors students who want to pursue higher education abroad. Jai Shah holds a bachelor's degree in Commerce from University of Mumbai and in Entrepreneurship and Business Management from ISME along with a Master's in Entrepreneurship and Management from University of Bath. In his free time, Jai is passionate about running, fitness and gaming.
Rajagopal Menon is Vice President of WazirX, India's largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Before that, he was Assistant Vice President at Reliance Jio. Raj was part of a crack team that launched Jio.com, through which the company launched its 4G services.
Prior to his Jio stint, Raj was the COO of StepOut.com, India's No. 1 dating company which was eventually acquired by Tindr. Raj spent the early part of his career in Games2win in different capacities.
As a domain expert, his articles have appeared in the Economic Times, Hindustan Times, Hindu Business Line, Times of India, and several other publications.
Roby is the CEO and co-founder of SuperGaming. SuperGaming has created popular mobile games MaskGun, Silly Royale, and Tower Conquest, while investing in building its own game engine for running hyper-scale, real-time multiplayer games, including the official PAC-MAN game, that have been played by over 400 million players worldwide. Now, Roby and his team are building Indus � a new Battle Royale set in an Indo-Futuristic universe and Tower Conquest: Metaverse Edition, SuperGaming's first Web3 Game.
Having spent the last 12 years in creative agencies in New York, London and now Tokyo, Jamie currently leads the dentsu gaming solution across the APAC region. She has worked across many industries, with clients including Mondelez, Bridgestone and Shiseido, but believes that the unifying factor in great work comes from symbiotic relationships between agency and client. In her current role, she practices this not only with clients, but leading cross-functional teams through dentsu gaming projects.
Jamie's proudest moment remains winning a Cannes Lions for a European-wide weedkiller campaign. She grew up playing video consoles with her three older brothers, a tradition that she continues to look forward to every Christmas.
An avid gamer, creative thinker and a futurist. Stan has spent the last 18 years using technology to amplify creative ideas in order to bring about meaningful change for brands and consumers. He currently leads the creative group in Singapore partnering with clients like Activision Blizzard, Toyota, Prudential, Coca Cola, Ocean Network Express and Santen Pharmaceutical.
Named in Campaign Asia 2017�s 40 under 40, Stan�s work has also won multiple awards in coveted categories across Most Innovative, Best Integration of Mobile, Best Use of 360/ARVR, Best Customer Experience, Best Use of Technology, Best Experiential and Most Humorous. That being the case, he is happiest when he creates a tiny moment of magic that can reach people�s hearts.
Soham Thacker is the CEO & Founder of Gamerji, India's leading esports tournament platform. Gamerji is currently building a community of gamers who can elevate themselves from amateurs to professional esports athletes and create an ecosystem. Gamers in India have faced a unique problem of not having enough competitive exposure or platforms to showcase and improve their gaming skills. Soham understood this problem and capitalized on it by starting Gamerji in 2019, based on his previous experience of building Fantasiji ( a Fantasy sports platform) and F20 Cohort Company (a global sports innovation hub for early stage investment in sports and esports). He has 10+ years of experience as a founder of various enterprises with a keen business sense and in-depth knowledge of the gaming sector. He is passionate about sports and starts his day playing cricket in the early hours of the morning.
Shiva is a general management professional with 22+ years of experience across consumer businesses, corporate strategy, and investment banking. 17+ years of those were spent in conceptualizing, building, and growing hacking consumer Internet businesses. He is credited to have steered ABFRL's entry into e-commerce & transformation into an omnichannel player in the fashion industry and Reliance ADA group's entry into Media & entertainment industry as well as consumer internet.
At Deltatech Gaming Pvt. Ltd, he is working towards consolidating Adda52's online poker leadership and building Addagames, the group's foray into multi-gaming.
He is a Harvard Alumni, with interests in traveling, playing chess, and cycling.
With over 2 decades of experience in the media industry, Anita has an extensive background in media management for Consumer Durables, Financial Services, FMCG, Technology, Broadcasting and other MNC brands.
She leads Carat, part of dentsu international as CEO. It is the first agency in India to take inspiration from Design thinking and creating an agile planning framework called "designing for people". Anita has been recognised in the Impact top 50 influential women in 2019 and 2022 in the media and marketing fraternity and also been awarded a certificate of excellence at the Woman leading change awards APAC for woman leadership program.
She has also been an esteemed judge and jury at various industry forums like Emvies, Goafest awards. She has been managing the media Abby awards at Goafest for the last 2 years.
https://twitter.com/kotwani11
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anita-kotwani-a201085/?originalSubdomain=in
With almost a decade of experience under his belt, Faraz Sayed has honed himself to be an integrated planner and strategist. Specially biased towards consumer insights, he likes to create solutions which resonate with the audience and bring striking results. Being an aspiring gamer himself, he has been working to bring brands closer to the gamer audiences using insights and studying their behavior.
...Rajat has been in the video game industry for 26 years and worked on marquee games like Resident Evil, Battlefield, Final Fantasy, SGS and many more. Always at the forefront of technology, he's currently busy building India ka Apna Metaverse, PartyNite which has hosted some of the marquee events in metaverse.
Rajat is one of those successful entrepreneurs who could take his gaming experience to the theme park industry and built some of the most popular theme parks across the world.
Anurag Khurana is the founder of Penta Esports, a new age esports company with a vision to revolutionise the ecosystem in India.
With over 25 years of experience in business consulting, project management, system design & integration, and 10 years of experience in the gaming industry, heading development of games on more than five platforms including an instrumental role in the development of India's first multiplayer wireless game. Recently, he has shifted his focus to esports, having worked with and consulted multiple leading esports companies.
Being a longstanding gamer himself, Anurag's passion lies in all things gaming and esports. Having joined the gaming industry back in 1999, he has held lead positions at some of top national and international companies like Paradox, Red Octane, Riot Games, Reliance Jio and has consulted brands like Paytm First Games (PFG) and Esports Players League (ESPL).
...Having Co-Founded GuardianLink, Arjun heads its technology vision, making it India�s biggest NFT ecosystem company. They launched the world's biggest successfully sold out NFT drop of 55000 play to earn NFT Cricket Game and have powered ventures like BeyondLife.Club, which launched Amitabh Bachchan and Stan Lee (Marvel Comics Creator) NFTs. Having secured a Master's degree from Edith Cowan University, Australia, Arjun has been a researcher and a technologist in an R & D firm he founded in 2010 which, over the years, has helped 100+ cutting edge startups, some of which became unicorns.
As the CTO of GuardianLink, Arjun is working with his tirelessly passionate blockchain team on NFT games and cross-chain L2s to make NFTs mainstream and a new asset class that uplifts livelihoods across the world.
Ashish Kulkarni embarked on his journey in the field of arts and media in 1995, and is the founder of Punnaryug Artvision. Ashish is also the Chairman of the AVGC forum at FICCI and MCCIA, and has been persistently engaged with AVGC policy makers in India at central and state levels.
In the last two decades, Ashish's push for state level policies inclusive of AVGC skill development and creation has allowed for their successful implementation under IT ITES policies or independent AVGC policies in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, AP, Telangana, Goa, MP, Chattisgarh, West Bengal and Kerala. Moreover, states like UP, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat are actively considering the formation of AVGC policies to promote creative skill development and job creation.
I live and breathe video games, having worked in a variety of roles from retail to game development with a focus on result-driven strategies and return on investment.
With over two decades of experience, Sharmilee Daru has been a mentor and a change-maker in the PR and communications area that led to her founding 'Sharmilee Daru PR', and its new division '4WD Gaming'. Today, recognised as one of the pioneers of focused and curated communication for gaming solutions in the country, she is at the forefront in creating flourishing brands by providing them guidance, training, and strategic direction. Her mission is to contribute significantly to the growth of the Indian gaming sector, creating exceptional work that helps international brands consolidate and establish themselves in the Indian gaming ecosystem. In the past, she has worked with and consulted multiple brands and goliaths like Reliance Industries Ltd. and Hindustan Unilever Ltd.
Best known as the father of the Indian gaming industry, Vishal Gondal sold his first entrepreneurial venture India Games to Walt Disney. A health and fitness enthusiast, he runs marathons, treks and goes ski diving. A notable angel investor, Vishal was listed among the top 50 executives in the mobile content space by the UK based 'Mobile Entertainment' Magazine alongside noted people like Steve Jobs. His passion for technology, fitness & gaming led him to his next venture� GOQii� which is focused on helping people make a change towards a healthier lifestyle and be the force of good. Currently, he brings his knowledge and love for interviewing people to a whole you platform by hosting a podcast series �Beneath the Force: The Vishal Gondal Show, he has conversations with personalities from various walks of life providing a sneak peek into their fascinating lives while in his own style.
Vishal Gondal is best known as the father of the Indian gaming industry. He sold his first entrepreneurial venture, India Games, to the Walt Disney Company. He is the founder of GOQii and nCORE Games, driving innovation across the gaming and healthcare sectors.