Rolling Stone India & Man’s World publisher acquired by Ventureland Asia

Mumbai-based venture capital company, Ventureland Asia Advisory Services, has acquired the controlling stake in MW.Com India Pvt Ltd, 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 Pvt Ltd.

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% 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."