Mahesh Murthy Exits From Media Startup 'The Ken' In Just Three Months
The Ken is a new, digital, subscription-driven publication headquartered out of Bangalore, India. Founded on October 3, 2016 by a trio (experienced journalists and entrepreneurs) - Rohin DharmaKumar, Ashish K Mishra and Seema Singh.
The startup's goal is to deliver fresh and original business insight through well-narrated stories to professionals, entrepreneurs, investors and leaders every morning.
Till date the firm has raised a total sum of $400k in 1 Round from 11 Investors; most recent funding round closed in February 20, 2017. One of the investor was Mahesh Murthy, the co-founder of early-stage investment firm Seedfund.
He has made a successful exit from The Ken on his investment and sold his shares privately to another investor. As per media reports, the exit has proved to be highly profitable, after placing his bets in the company three months ago.
Murthy told BW Businessworld that he has sold his shares and got a great exit and return on his investment. He declined to reveal whether he sold his stake to an existing investor or on the profitability he gained via the sale.
Murthy has been in the news for alleged sexual harassment claims made by several women who have interacted with him.
The Ken’s other investors include entrepreneurs such as Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, TaxiForSure’s Aprameya Radhakrishna, Freshdesk’s Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy, FusionCharts’ Pallav Nadhani and [24]7 co-founder Shanmugam Nagarajan.
Aarin Capital managing director Deepak Natraj, former SoftBank director Pavan Ongole, Graticule Asset Management MD Sandeep Mathur and Exfinity Ventures chairman V Balakrishnan have also invested.
