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Former Google exec Mahesh Narayanan is Saavn's global COO
Based out of Mumbai, he will oversee growth and expansion of the platform.
Online music streaming service, Saavn has announced the appointment of Mahesh Narayanan as global chief operating officer. Based out of Mumbai, he will oversee numerous functions of the company to encourage growth and support Saavn's expansion in 2015.
Prior to Sociomantic, Narayanan was the founding member of Google's Direct Sales Operations in 2005, before joining the leadership team of mobile advertising network, AdMob. Following Google's acquisition of AdMob in 2010, he returned to Google as mobile head for India.
"Mahesh is an elite executive who is recognised as one of the top digital leaders in the world and brings a bright, uniquely experienced perspective to Saavn. We're honoured to have Mahesh on board, and he has already made a tremendous impact on the organisation in his first few weeks with us. Businesses are built off great people. Mahesh is one of the best," says Rishi Malhotra, co-founder and CEO of Saavn.
"I've had the opportunity to help many leading global technology media companies achieve success, and I genuinely believe that Saavn is primed for the same calibre of success. I am really excited about partnering with Rishi and the leadership team to take Saavn to a whole new league," says Narayanan.
Saavn claims to have 30 million unique users and 11 million streaming users a month. It has also announced its entry into the 10-50 million downloads tier on Android, making it the most downloaded Indian music service in Google Play (international). According to the company, the number of subscribers to Saavn Pro has jumped six-fold between April-June 2014 and now while streaming volumes have increased three times in the same period. Ninety per cent of its users are on mobile.
Saavn closed 2014 with partnerships with companies like Twitter, T-Mobile and Snapdeal, a content initiative with Sony, and a bold year-end infographic celebrating Saavn's most active cities and users.
Founded in 2006, Saavn has a catalogue of approximately two million songs owing to the partnerships with more than 900 record labels offering music in 11 regional languages. Saavn's investors include Tiger Global, Bertelsmann, Steadview Capital, Liberty Media and Mousse Partners. Headquartered in New York City, Saavn has offices in Silicon Valley, New Delhi, and Mumbai.