Wudstay, an online marketplace for budget accommodations announced a USD 3 Million round of funding from former Skype investor, Mangrove Capital Partners and Nimbuzz CEO Vikas Saxena.

Travellers can use WudStay to book accommodations online and through mobile at very affordable prices and also guaranteed a quality experience along with complimentary breakfast and wifi. WudStay relies heavily on its technology backbone for standardising its guest houses so the user experience is uniform across all of its accommodations in any cities.

Currently available in Gurgaon and Jaipur, WudStay plans to expand to 65 cities in the next 18 months. Funds raised will be deployed in ramping up the technology platform and team building.

Excited about the new venture in India, Mark Tluszcz, Founder & CEO, Mangrove Capital Partners said, "We had a great outcome in our earlier investment in India through Nimbuzz and wanted to keep that going. WudStay was obvious from the start: huge unstructured market, great founder and an opportunity to define the standard in budget hotel segment.”

Vikas Saxena, CEO, Nimbuzz, remarked, “In my past ventures I have looked at scenarios where tech advancements can disrupt a large inefficient market and make the services cheaper and better for the consumers. With Internet penetration reaching critical mass in emerging markets I think time is ripe to repeat the same in budget stays. . With 2015 travel market size in India hitting a mark of USD 70 Billion, there is a huge potential for travel technology platform that WudStay has built.’’

According to Prafulla Mathur, Founder & CEO, Wudstay, ‘’I travel a lot for business and leisure and one thing I learnt in that is booking rooms in India through existing channels does not give you the confidence of getting value for money. Additionally safety and security is a concern too. We intend to solve that through the technology we have built to standardise these accommodations so a user is always sure of a quality experience. It is great to have Mangrove and Vikas onboard as they bring their experience of consumer internet through brands like Skype, Wix and Nimbuzz. ’’

Prafulla Mathur has been a serial entrepreneur and had earlier founded one of the most prominent mobile technology company called Queppelin with clients including Facebook, Snapdeal, Times of India, Gaana.com, Reliance Bigflix, HomeShop18, TastyKhana and many more. He created a mobile product in 2011 which was showcased by Oracle at Mobile World Congress, Barcelona and was also a Red Herring Winner.

The race for The Voice intensifies 11th July onwards every Saturday and Sunday at 9.00 pm on &TV

After an unprecedented start of The Voice India with the BLIND AUDITIONS, it’s time for the most entertaining and electrifying phase – THE BATTLE ROUNDS that is all set to bring the house down. So far, you cheered for your favourite coaches – Himesh, Shaan, Mika and Sunidhi as they formed their teams of 14 singers each. Now it’s time to see them choose between their own favorites as they whittle the list down. Don’t miss the unique, spellbinding and high voltage episodes of the fiery BATTLE ROUNDS starting July 11th every Saturday and Sunday at 9:00 pm only on &TV.

As The Voice India's battles commence, the premise is simple: one song + two voices = one contestant moves forward. You will be on the edge of your seat as each coach pits the singers of his/her own team against each other in a musical face off. Catch the coaches and battle advisors train the signers through songs and jamming sessions as the ultimate musical battle kickstarts in the boxing ring of The Voice.

The excitement among the four judges is palpable and the response overwhelming. Said Shaan – “The experience so far has been simply amazing, the quality of singers is exceptional. Blind auditions were challenging and with the Battle rounds it’s only going to intensify.”

Added Mika Singh – “I received some fabulous reviews on the Blind auditions from my colleagues in the industry. The Voice India is the purest form of singing reality show currently on television and an absolute entertainer. Selecting the team was a tough job and now eliminating artists from the team is going to be even tougher.”

Himesh Reshammiya further added – “The Blind audition rounds was a wonderful showcase of The Voice talent and the best of the lot have been chosen. In the Battle round, it is all about survival of the fittest. I have a wowtastic team and I am looking forward to coaching them to give it their best.”

The only female coach on the show, Sunidhi Chauhan expressed, “The Blind auditions was a tough call with superior quality voices auditioning for a chance to be a part of The Voice India. Now, with the battle rounds ahead the job is only getting tougher, the coaches will have to eliminate their own team members. The levels ahead are difficult yet exciting and I am looking forward to it.”

The Voice India became the talk of town with masses pouring in copious amounts of support for the show and the dazzling B-towners expressing their awe for the show with their fevered tweets. From Abhishek Bachchan calling it a “great show” with “great judges” to Riteish Deshmukh wishing them the best, everyone is talking about The Voice India. And now the excitement goes several notches higher as the battleground is set to choose the best.

Vizeum India, the media agency from the Dentsu Aegis Network, has roped in Industry veteran Shripad Kulkarni as the Managing Director.

Shripad will report to Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO Dentsu Aegis Network, South Asia and will join the Dentsu Aegis Network India Executive Council.

Meanwhile, S.Yesudas will now focus on content and analytics, something that he is extremely passionate about, while continuing to report to Ashish Bhasin.

With more than 25 years of experience across various media specializations, Shripad has worked in agencies such as Carat, Contract, Clarion and O&M. Prior to joining Vizeum, Shripad was CEO - Allied Media, a Percept Group company. Shripad, who serves on the Board of MRUC, was the founding CEO of Allied Media. An MBA from JBIMS, Shripad also holds a Master’s Degree in Statistics and a Diploma in Operations Research. He is also a well-known trainer and ran a media school prior to joining Allied Media.

Commenting on the appointment, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO Dentsu Aegis Network said, “I am very pleased to welcome Shripad as the MD of Vizeum India. With the wealth of experience that he brings in and the thorough knowledge of the business that he has, I am sure Vizeum India will touch new heights under his leadership.”

“I also want to thank Yesudas for the great job that he has done in helping start Vizeum operations in India from the scratch and bringing the agency to the level, at which it is today. I have no doubts that he will equally excel in the new opportunities. Shripad now has a great platform to take Vizeum India to the next orbit because our ambitions for Vizeum India are tremendous,” he added.

“I am really happy to be leading Vizeum India. The sheer dynamism of Vizeum as a brand excites me. The One P&L philosophy of the Dentsu Aegis Network opens great opportunities for us and will help push Vizeum to the next level,” said Shripad Kulkarni, MD - Vizeum India.

Some of the clients that Vizeum handles in India include BMW, Lotus herbals, TI Cycles, MTV, Hindware,  Jet Airways, Allied Blenders and Distillers, Luxor and HDFC Bank  amongst others.

Close on the heels of the announcement of Nikhil Shahane as Vice President – Mobile and International Business and Mahesh Patil as Chief Technology Officer comes another significant appointment that of Navin Kansal as National Creative Director.

The move marks an important phase in the digital agency’s journey of growth where the endevour is to ensure seamless integration of creativity and technology.

Welcoming Navin on board, RajDeepak Das, Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett India, said, “Navin is a creative genius when it comes to digital and he happens to join us at a right time when we are looking to fast-track Indigo’s growth as a full-service digital agency and a technology hub for clients. Navin’s experience of creating exemplary work on many brands reflects his ability to make an idea look great across digital platforms. His passion for innovation will drive the change brands need, thus helping to take the quality of our offering notches higher!”

Harshad Hardikar, COO, Indigo Consulting, added, “Navin and I have worked together in the past and I am fully convinced about his great ability to think big brand ideas that can create magic for brands, using digital media. This is the most critical position we were waiting to fill-in for some time. I’m sure that Navin’s creative acumen coupled with his leadership skills will take Indigo’s creative reputation to new heights.”

Commenting on his joining, Navin Kansal said, “Indigo Consulting has a great momentum going forward and a huge potential that is waiting to be tapped. The agency is blessed with great clients and a multi-disciplinary team that is rich in experience with full-service offerings that very few digital agencies in India have. I look forward to working closely with Harshad and Raj to leverage the technology, UX and mobile capabilities of Indigo in new and innovative ways to  solve business problems. My focus will be to design and implement digital solutions with a human purpose in mind, by keeping Leo Burnett’s HumanKind philosophy as my North Star.”

Navin joins Indigo Consulting from Grey India where he was spearheading the agency’s digital creative function as Executive Creative Director and worked on many brands, including Volkswagen, Dell, Cadbury (Bournvita, Silk), Birla SunLife, ICICI Bank, Go Air, ITC, STAR Network, Sony LIV and Adobe.

Before Grey, Navin spent nine years at OgilvyOne Worldwide, Mumbai, where he was Creative Director on key accounts - Unilever, Tata Safari, The Economist, Vodafone and Perfetti van Melle.

His work has received recognition at various award shows for creativity and effectiveness across various categories in digital, including Spikes Asia, Adfest Asia, PMA-Asia, ECHO Awards, Yahoo! Big Idea Chair, Effies, IDMA, DMA India, DMA Asia, Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards, Goafest (Abbys) and Outdoor Advertising Awards.

Navin has also served on the jury of the Digital Asia Festival, Goafest, Indian Digital Media Awards (IDMA) and ECHO Awards.

Watch the 7pm movie on MOVIES NOW this week and grab the opportunity to win an all-expense paid trip to Singapore!

MOVIES NOW – India’s leading Hollywood movie channel – is all set to regale and offer viewers a visit to the dream destination -- Singapore -- and a trip to its iconic Universal Studios!

The viewers have to tune into MOVIES NOW at 7pm daily, this week and participate in an on-going contest. During the telecast of the movie, they have to watch out for the Minions Contest Promo where a special number will be flashed. To enter the contest they simply have to give a missed call on the number, post which they will have to answer a question and one lucky winner will win an all-expense paid trip for two to Singapore for 3 Days and 4 Nights with a VIP access pass to Universal Studios to meet the adorable Minions!

The Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda-directed Minions has been awaited by millions round the globe and stars Coffin and Sandra Bullock among others. Evolving from single-celled yellow organisms at the dawn of time, Minions live to serve, but find themselves working for a continual series of unsuccessful masters, from T. Rex to Napoleon. Without a master to grovel for, the Minions fall into a deep depression. Until Kevin comes up with a plan, accompanied by his pals Stuart and Bob; he sets forth to find a new evil boss for his brethren to follow. Their search leads them to Scarlet Overkill, the world's first-ever super-villainess.

Do not miss out on the double bonanza of enjoying the movie and getting a chance to win a trip to the Universal Studios, Singapore. Tune into MOVIES NOW every evening this week at 7pm!