Weaving diverse global ideas into a tapestry called India.

Read the story

Airbnb is one of the world’s largest marketplaces for unique, authentic places to stay and things to do, powered by local hosts. It has pioneered the trust economy and has fundamentally changed how people travel around the world. With its category-defining model, Airbnb has disrupted the global hospitality industry by productizing trust at scale and promoting community-building that transcends geographical boundaries. In India, Airbnb crafted a localization strategy by leveraging the vast network of media and operational resources of the Times Group, driving awareness of Airbnb accommodations and thereby introduced millenials in India to a new way to travel. As a strategic investor, Times Bridge helped unlock critical government partnerships that championed a local economy model and paved the way for monetizing the hospitality potential for thousands of homeowners. This created a surge in the supply side of the business and accelerated its growth plans. Moreover, the brand found a place in the cultural zeitgeist by pioneering a peer-to-peer network of trust, never seen before in the Indian market.

“India is among the top five growth markets for Airbnb and our commitment here is long term.”

• - Nathan Blecharczyk
  Co-founder, Chief Strategy Officer, Airbnb

Read the story

Coursera was founded with a vision to provide anyone, anywhere with access to the world’s best education. Since its inception, it has pioneered online-learning and has changed the paradigm of education for millions around the world.

To open a new chapter in India, Coursera found a strategic investor in Times Bridge to bring high quality, affordable digital education to millions of Indians. Its arrival in India legitimized the ed-tech space, paving the way for an entire industry that followed. At that time, India was ripe for Coursera’s business education offering, where they brought access to world-class training and development programs by top universities and companies.

Times Bridge helped Coursera embrace the India opportunity by aiding them with market intelligence and brand building to unlock scale. Thereafter, innovative propositions like Coursera for Business – an immersive EdTech skilling experience for India’s corporate sector and Coursera for Campus have played a key role in making India Coursera’s 2nd-largest user market in the world.

“India is going to have a billion working-age people in the next 5-10 years, and has to be included as an integral part of expansion strategies”

• - Jeff Magionclada
  CEO, Coursera

Read the story

MUBI delivers curated, handpicked films for movie lovers around the world with an interface specifically geared towards aesthetic design and simplicity. In a highly cluttered content streaming market, MUBI has carved a niche by introducing a new hand-picked film every day.

To help MUBI reach the discerning Indian audience, Times Bridge’s investment and partnership empowered this unique product through a nuanced understanding of the sub-cultures of film appreciation in India. It helped design local content, brand positioning, craft its go-to-market strategy along with facilitating local partnerships and collaborations that were key to reaching its audience.

Times Bridge brought on-board the Oscar-winning director, Guneet Monga as MUBI India’s content advisor. To unlock insights into the Indian content landscape, Times Bridge introduced MUBI to the Indian film fraternity and enabled a partnership with India's foremost cinema festival - MAMI for two consecutive years. With its MUBI India channel, launched in 2019, the SVOD service promises to offer a platter of curated global and Indian cinema for a culturally-aware and discerning audience

“We are very ambitious with our prospects in India. It is a unique opportunity for us to engage with a passionate community with deep cultural ties to film”

• - Efé Cakarel
  CEO, MUBI

Read the story

Smule is a pioneer in making music a social phenomenon, where users around the world connect through music. When the sing-along Karaoke platform started gaining interest in India, the Smule team partnered with Times Bridge to help them unlock India’s vast musical potential. With Times Bridge, Smule found new ways to immerse deeper into India’s rich and diverse music culture and customize the product-market fit that’s in tune with the contemporary Indian zeitgeist.

The ambition of making Smule a part of local culture meant creating a new playbook for winning in India. After Times Bridge’s investment and strategic partnership, the India playbook for Smule involved crafting the right opportunities to showcase local musical talent, onboarding high profile artists and partnering with Radio Mirchi. From Live jams to pan-India talent hunts, Smule’s India journey reflects its diverse and engaged community of multilingual users across Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities.

The time spent on Smule in India is on average 57 minutes, a testimony to the positive social connections that the community inspires. Through Times Group’s diverse media assets, along with big-ticket partnerships with production houses and movie labels, Smule pursued an aggressive growth-focused go-to-market strategy making India one of its top 3 markets across the world.

“India is a great market for us. It is important for us to integrate with cultural events here. Timesbridge advised us on how to tune our value propositions for the Indian market”

• - Bill Bradford
  President, Smule

Read the story

Uber was founded in 2009 with a simple idea of hailing a cab at the tap of a button. Today, it has ushered in a new paradigm in mobility and has transformed an entire industry.

India quickly hopped on to Uber as it solved a huge problem for a new wave of Indians seeking convenience and comfort. With a strategic investment by Times Group, Uber made deep inroads into the Indian market beyond the top cities. Times Bridge helped shape the early go-to-market strategy for India, assisted in hiring key leadership for the Uber India team and played a role in defining the brand that would resonate with the large potential of India.

In no time, Uber steered on to win in 22 Indian metros with over 1 billion rides booked. Today, India is Uber’s largest market outside the US, accounting for 12% of all Uber trips worldwide – that’s one in every eight rides with the help of a unique made for India playbook. For Uber, India has been the crucible for innovations like Uber LITE and is setting benchmarks for other emerging markets.

“India is a fundamental part of Uber’s growth; it’s among the top 10 markets for us. It is the innovation gateway to the rest of the developing world”

• - Dara Khosrowshahi
  CEO - Uber

Read the story

Wattpad is a multi-platform social storytelling media company that helps audiences around the world write and discover stories. It engages with over 80 million monthly users globally. In India, Wattpad has democratized content creation by giving local creators a unique platform to showcase talent. Since its investment in Wattpad in 2019, Times Bridge has brought to bear resources to advance the company's mission in India by playing a key role to bring on board publishing giants like Penguin Random House, Harper Collins and activated collaborations with some of India’s biggest movie labels. Its immersive journey in India has continued with a host of partnerships with Write India, the prestigious Jaipur Lit Fest which have created engagement worthy opportunities for the vibrant, diverse community of users. Since its launch, users have shared millions of stories on the platform. It is growing into one of the most sought after platforms by shaping the cultural zeitgeist through democratizing creativity and giving the Indian community an avenue to create, collaborate and share.

“Millions of Indian readers and writers have already found a home in Wattpad. We’re excited to create new opportunities for Indian storytellers.”

• - Allen Lau
  CEO, Wattpad