Noida, 9th December 2016: Mywish Marketplaces (MMPL), the company that owns Deal4loans.com, today announced strategic additions to their Board of Directors. Financial industry veterans Alok Sethi, Chairman, Franklin Templeton Services, and Vivek Kudva, Managing Director, EMEA & India, Franklin Templeton Investments have joined the company’s Board of Directors effective July 2016.
MMPL pioneered the neutral loan marketplace in India and has successfully established trust with over 7 million customers, leveraging technology to enhance customer acquisition for participating banks’ loan products, and smarter matching of customers with products. Sales transactions are also conducted on the platform itself. MMPL aggregates, markets and facilitates the sale of loan products and credit offerings from banks and financial institutions, and runs some of the largest financial marketplaces in India.
Mr. Sethi and Mr. Kudva bring along a wealth of proven industry experience and acumen in finance and business. Welcoming Mr. Alok Sethi and Mr. Vivek Kudva on Board, Puru Vashishtha, Board Chairman, Mywish Marketplaces Private Limited, commented, “We are excited to have Mr. Alok Sethi and Mr. Vivek Kudva join our Board of Directors. Their vast experience and valuable expertise in developing some of the largest and most successful financial services businesses in the world, will provide our board with a unique perspective and effective mentorship.” He further added, “They are thought leaders in using technology in financial services space. We look forward to a long-term relationship with them, to learn from their experience.”
Prior to joining Franklin Templeton, Mr. Sethi was with MphasiS BFL, as the chief of staff to the chairman. Before MphasiS, he was the COO of Andersen as a part of their India Leadership Team. Mr. Sethi is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and is a Bachelor of Commerce (honours) graduate from Delhi University.
“I am delighted to come on-board at Mywish Marketplaces, one of the pioneers of financial marketplaces in India. Over the past few years, with increased digital connectivity, the impetus has been on using technology as a medium to improve access to financial products,” Mr. Sethi said.
Vivek Kudva has over 30 years’ experience in the financial services industry. He has been with Franklin Templeton for over 10 years. Prior to joining Franklin Templeton, Mr. Kudva was General Manager of Banking with National Bank of Oman, Muscat. Mr. Kudva is an engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, and has a post-graduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA).
“I am happy to partner with Mywish Marketplaces. With proven expertise in business and technology, they are well placed to develop an all-inclusive digital ecosystem, providing wealth management and investment product-related services to Indian customers,” Mr. Kudva said.
Mr. Samir Sood has joined the Board, representing prominent Silicon Valley investor, Mr. Ram Shriram and Sherpalo Capital.
“Mywish Marketplaces /Deal4loans has developed and deployed some of the most sophisticated technology and has positioned itself as one of the cutting edge and premier FinTech company in the world. Their algorithms for customer acquisition and match making are world class. They have greater than 40% customer repeat rates, which is unheard of in their space. I am impressed by Deal4loans’ ability to leverage technology to build a large and scaled consumer internet business in India, and that too profitably. Its probably the only large consumer internet play in India that is profitable at PAT level. This is commendable. I am excited to join the board of Mywish Marketplaces, and help them enter the next orbit of growth.
Welcoming Mr. Samir Sood on Board, Puru Vashishtha, Board Chairman, Mywish Marketplaces Private Limited, commented, “Samir bring a unique perspective of having analyzed and invested in multiple technology businesses across the world for Google and Cisco. His understanding of scaling technology businesses globally and his access to some of the best technology leaders and talent will be very valuable for us, particularly as we ramp up our team.”
Samir Sood is founder of Venture Highway (“VH”), an early stage venture fund focused on investing in India and is advised by Neeraj Arora, Business Head at WhatsApp. Prior to this, Samir was the Head of South Asia, Australia – M&A and Investments for Google Inc., and in that capacity, he has led Google’s investments in several first time seed stage funds in India: Erasmic Venture Fund (Accel India), SONG (Soros, Omydiar, Google Fund), Seedfund, and Ventureast TeNet Fund II.
