One97 Mobility Fund (OMF) , an investment fund from the house of mobile VAS company One97 Communications Ltd, has roped in Arun Katiyar, a media and business leader as a venture catalyst. Katiyar will actively engage with the leadership team of the companies that are a part of OMF’s portfolio and mentor them on their business strategies.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, chairman and MD, One97 Communications, said, “I am happy that we can bring his expertise to our portfolio of companies. Entrepreneurs will love his depth of understanding and the problem solving style he brings from his background as an entrepreneur.â€
Katiyar brings with him over three decades of media business experience. He was the founder and chief operating officer (COO) of India Today’s online business venture and was also part of the leadership team at Indya.com, before moving on to head private FM radio station Radio City. In 2005, he founded SEraja Technologies Pvt Ltd, a mobile-based event-centric service. He is currently involved in a project that aims at creating a framework to manage and measure business integrity that can be applied to Indian businesses.
“This is a significant opportunity to develop the telecom eco-system in the country while working with the One97 Mobility Fund and the leadership team of the companies that are a part of the fund. In addition, identifying and nurturing start-ups is exciting,†said Katiyar.
OMF is a $100 million fund which invests across seed and early stages to growth stage companies with average deal size ranging from $5,00,000 to $5 million. The fund invests in companies that are focused on serving the Indian markets and leverage mobile as a key delivery medium for customers and enterprises (like device apps, location based services, m-Commerce, video, content aggregation, among others).
Some of its investments include TheMobileGamer, LeapSky, Ciqual, Paytm, Dexetra, RainingClouds, etc. Beyond investment, One97 also supports the companies with human capital, providing access to the market and workspace.
