Lessons from 50 start-ups: How Vserv.mobi is taking advertising to mobile platform

Dippak Khurana has had a ringside view of the growth and development of cellular services and the internet over the past two decades. So when he teamed up with another industry veteran Ashay Padwal, it helped them pool expertise to launch Vserv.mobi.

The startup offers a simple tool that allows developers to make money off applications, games and mobile sites they build for different platforms.

Khurana thinks his company stands out for two reasons: he’s targeting the mass of low-end feature phones outside the ambit of traditional app stores; and for AppWrapper, a technology that allows developers to insert their ads with little software coding.

To build revenues, the company is looking at two sources; First, it will tap advertising revenues by partnering with app developers and publishers to serve ads on their inventory.

The firm will also target advertisers looking to reach end users on apps and share 60% of revenue earned with developers and publishers when the ads are served. Secondly, Vserv is also building a transaction-based revenue model, where it will partner with developers and publishers to monetise their applications.

However, there was plenty of pain along the way. “We understood the nuances and complications of application and game development,” says Khurana. “But, we experienced a great deal of frustrations and complications integrating software kits of different ad networks.”

Khurana started Vserv with five people and Rs 30 lakh in funding from angel investor Ajay Adiseshan. Since those early days, Vserv has grown rapidly, serving over 100 million unique users and has attracted $3 million in funding from IDG Ventures.

Now, Khurana is looking beyond India to south east Asia, Latin America and eventually developed markets and is hiring rapidly to keep pace with his plans—from 60 people to 250 in the next 12 to 18 months. “We want to be a $100-million company by 2015,” he says.