Raghav Bahl to launch TheQuint.com as a Mobile First News Service

Raghav Bahl, founder and managing director of Network18 Group until its takeover by Reliance Group, has now ventured into the digital news domain by launching Quintillion Media, as a pure play digital media company.

As per sources close to the development, the company has already booked the domain name and the design and development part of the website is going on. The company has kept February 2015 as a target for the soft launch and will roll out the platform to the public in March 2015.

The Group focuses on creating content exclusively for the digital platforms. The company has formed a team consisting of professionals from editorial, marketing and brand management. Former features editor of Network 18 Ritu Kapur, former Firstpost columnist Sanjit Oberoi, and Roshan Tamang, former VP, (Convergence) and news editor, Times Internet are among the senior members in the team.

Besides Quint.com, Quintillion Media has already launched a digital publishing and analytics service called Quintype. The company is based in San Franscisco and has Amit Rathore as the CEO and chief product officer. Rathore was earlier heading Staples's Innovation Labs in California.

Bahl had quit Network18 in May 2014 following Reliance Industries acquiring a controlling stake in the company. Bahl began his career as a management consultant with A F Ferguson & Co. followed by a stint with American Express Bank before he launched TV18, his production house. Winner of the Sanskriti Award for Journalism in 1994, he has over 24 years of experience in television and journalism. He founded TV18 (now Network18 Group) in the year 1993.

Bahl was also selected by Ernst & Young as 'Entrepreneur of The Year (2007) for Business Transformation'. He has also been awarded the AIMA award for the Media Person of the Year in 2011 and BMA recognised him as 'Entrepreneur of The Year (2011)'. He has been conferred with the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil), Honoris Causa by Amity University, Uttar Pradesh (2011). An Economics graduate from St. Stephens College, he has done MBA from the University of Delhi. He has also authored the book 'Superpower? The Amazing Race Between China's Hare and India's Tortoise'.