Sajan Raj Kurup Acquires Rolling Stone India and Man’s World Magazine

Ventureland Asia, the Mumbai-based Investment advisory firm has recently announced its acquisition of the controlling stake in MW.Com India Pvt Ltd (MIPL), The publisher of magazines like Rolling Stone India and Man’s World (MW).  

 

Ventureland Asia’s Founder Sajan Raj Kurup announced on the 6th of September 2021 the acquisition of MIPL, which was previously owned by the publishing company Spenta Multimedia. Kurup, in a statement, said that Ventureland Asia plans to use its strong presence in areas of marketing, brand building, visual communication, and new-age technology to chart an omnichannel digital-oriented growth strategy for Rolling Stone India and MW. 

 

MIPL is a Mumbai-based publishing company that was started in the year 1999. The company’s first magazine Man’s World was launched in February 2002 as India’s first men’s luxury lifestyle magazine. MIPL’s other major publication is Rolling Stone India, the Indian edition of the world-renowned Rolling Stone Magazine. Rolling Stone is often appraised as the world’s best-known music and pop culture magazine for youngsters.  

 

Sajan Raj Kurup and Ventureland Asia have been busy in 2021 as they expand their business in India. Earlier this year, the firm bought a 40% stake in the gaming organization Revenant Esports. They also launched an e-commerce based end-to-end organic food market venture named Saintfarm. Kurup’s Ventureland Asia firm has been known to invest in small startups to fund, partner, and guide their marketing efforts. 

 

Before Ventureland, Kurup launched Creativeland Asia (CLA) in 2007. CLA is a multinational advertising agency promoting creative content through advertising, film production, branding, and licensing. His experience in the creative field has alluded him to invest in media, e-commerce, education, healthcare, Agritech, and esports – with technology innovations as the common investing theme. 

 

Sajan raj kurup investment in MIPL, Kurup has entered the pop culture market. He believes that at this moment in time, media as a whole is undergoing a massive change, with increased interest in pop culture. “If you look at the history of the pandemics, right after the Spanish Flu, there was a boom in pop culture,” Kurup said “This is also the time when the society, as a whole, resets its cultural tone. There is also a reset happening in the content space, with people looking beyond Bollywood for popular content.” He added.  

 

Sajan Raj Kurup, Creator-Investor and Founder, Ventureland Asia, the investment arm of Creativeland Asia, 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.” 

 

He believes that the content we consume is moving over to OTT platforms and going beyond Bollywood and Televised content. He says there is also an emergence of esports and gaming, so, the whole entertainment industry is in an interesting space of reinvention. 

 

Kurup explains that his focus for these publications will solely be on the digital wing as “...the print numbers are not as high as they used to be...We’ve all been living in our caves for the last 18 months and our cellphones have become the window to our world. Now is the right time to bring the legacy of print to handheld devices.” Kurup said.