Komli Media's CEO Prashant Mehta resigns, plans to start own venture

Prashant Mehta, CEO of digital advertising technology platform Komli Media India Pvt Ltd, has put in his papers owing to personal reasons. Amar Goel, co-founder, Komli Media will assume charge as CEO for now. As per a report by The Economic Times Mehta is planning to turn an entrepreneur after a break. He will continue to own a stake in Komli Media.

"I am looking at a bit of time off and to spend more time with my kids. It is a hard decision, but Komli is at a strong stage right now and I felt the time was right," ET quoted Mehta as saying. Mehta had joined Komli Media in 2008 prior to which he was working at Yahoo India as COO. He was appointed as CEO of Komli Media in 2011.

Komli Media is a digital media-focused technology platform that offers solutions across display, mobile, video, social, search and data for advertisers, agencies and publishers. Its offerings include a real-time bidding (RTB) performance advertising platform called ATOM that integrates audience data to improve return on investments. Headquartered in Mumbai, the company has over 400 employees across 18 offices in India, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Hong Kong and North America. In October this year, it raised $30million in its Series E funding led by Peepul Capital besides existing investors Norwest Venture Partners, Nexus Venture Partners, Helion Venture Partners and Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

Earlier this year, Amit Bhartiya, managing director and vice-president, mobile advertising, also quit the company after a five-year stint. The firm has been restructuring its leadership teams to accelerate its growth in the APAC region. As part of the restructuring, Gulshan Verma, the then managing director of Komli Media's India and North America business, was promoted to the role of chief revenue officer (CRO). Akshay Garg, co-founder of Komli Media and MD for Southeast Asia, was made global head of strategy and business operations. Later in the year, Rakesh Malani was brought in as CFO.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)