Ventureland Asia acquires publisher of Rolling Stone India, Man’s World

Mumbai-based venture capital firm 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)
So far, MW.Com was owned by the publishing company Spenta Multimedia.

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

Ventureland Asia plans to use its 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.

“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,” said Sajan Raj Kurup, founder, Ventureland Asia, the investment arm of Creativeland Asia.

Ventureland Asia's acquisition comes amidst the major churning that is happening on the Indian media landscape, said Radhakrishnan Nair, publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Rolling Stone India and MW.

He added that 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.

Spenta Multimedia will retain a minority stake in the company.

"MW.Com needed a new orientation and direction which was more digital and experiential focused, and Creativeland Asia was a perfect fit,” said Maneck Davar, chairman and publisher, Spenta Multimedia. “We are sure with the combined experience of the leadership the products will become stronger in their respective spaces.”

This has been an active year for Ventureland Asia, which earlier acquired a 40% stake in Revenant Esports, a 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.