The Wharton School

Carnegie Mellon University

New York University

Entrepreneur, Investor & Advisor

Project Masterwork is an AI-based global entertainment company in stealthmode.  Working with senior leaders from Netflix, Marvel, Amazon Studios, among others.

Project Masterwork

Founder & CEO

Altibbi is the Middle East’s largest AI-based digital healthcare company.  The Company hosts over 2 million pages of content, has conducted 4.5 million telehealth consultations to date, has 20 million unique visitors a month to its platform, and offers its 24/7 telehealth services in 7 countries.

Altibbi has raised over $50 million to date from leading strategic and financial investors in the MENA region, including Foundation Holdings, Global Ventures, Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP), Hikma Ventures, Dash Ventures, among others. 

Board Director on behalf of Foundation Holdings and served on the Executive Committee.

Altibbi

Board of Directors & Executive Committee

FIM is a leading investment firm in emerging and frontier markets managing $2.3 billion across public and private markets.  

FIM has sponsored a NASDAQ-listed SPAC, Frontier Investment Corp (FIC), which has raised $250 million and has the ability to raise further capital through a PIPE.  FIC is targeting a technology company valued between $1 billion to $10 billion.

Advising FIM in sourcing and evaluating target companies for FIC.

FIM Partners

Senior Advisor

Investments in various asset classes, such as private equity, public equity, funds and real estate

Kothari Holdings

Investor

Emaar India is one of the largest real estate developers in India with assets in the country of over $2 billion, 6,000 acres of land, 50 active projects, and 10,000 people, and the Company is currently going through a turnaround.  Emaar India’s Chairman is Emaar founder H.E. Mohamed Alabbar, and the Company is a subsidiary of Dubai-based Emaar Properties, one of the largest real estate developers globally.

Independent Director on the Board; Chairman of the Audit Committee; Member of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee; Member of the Legal Committee

Emaar India

Board of Directors & Senior Advisor

Foundation Holdings is a leading investment firm focused on the healthcare and education sectors in the GCC and India.  They have a strategic and operationally value additive approach with their portfolio, which includes companies such as Right Health, the largest primary care company in UAE; Al Shifa, the largest primary care company in Saudi Arabia; ASG Hospitals, the fastest growing eye care provider in India; Toppr, an Indian edtech company sold to Byju’s; among others.

Advising founder on investments in the digital healthcare space.

Foundation Holdings

Balaji Telefilms (NSE: BALAJITELE) is one of India’s largest film and television producers.  The Company has consistently produced the majority of the most popular television series in India during the past 20 years.  Balaji also owns and operates an SVOD OTT platform, AltBalaji, which offers content across genres and languages, including 85+ originals, and currently has ~2.5 million subscribers. 

Independent Director on the Board & Senior Advisor, advising the founders and CEO on strategy and growth.

Balaji Telefilms Ltd

Sony Pictures' feature film 'Bloodshot', based on the Valiant character, starring Vin Diesel, debuted as top three films globally at the box office in March 2020.

- Cleared IP chain-of-title and encumbrances
- Partnered with production company Original Film (Fast and the Furious franchise) to be lead producers
- Negotiated IP licensing rights with Sony Pictures, resulting in a 5% first dollar gross and 50% merchandise deal, a landmark deal in the space (i.e. identical to Marvel's Spider-Man deal with Sony Pictures)
- Hired scriptwriter and developed screenplay with studio and producing partners

Bloodshot (Sony Pictures)

Executive Producer

'Irrationally Passionate' is a book published by HarperCollins India in 2020.  HarperCollins' vision of the book was to create the most open and authentic telling of an entrepreneur's journey, including failures, successes, personal and professional aspects, to uniquely benefit aspiring and young entrepreneurs in India. 

- National Bestseller
- One of the best reviewed books on entrepreneurship with 4.5/5 rating on Amazon and 4.4/5 on Goodreads with 100+ reviews
- Selected by HarperCollins India to be a top ten book for the Company and the CEO has called it a "groundbreaking business book"
- Author's proceeds are going to the charitable trust that supports Shri Sai Baba's temple in Shirdi

Irrationally Passionate (HarperCollins India)

Book Author

Infibeam Avenues (NSE: INFIBEAM) is India's largest digital payments and e-commerce solutions provider to businesses and the government.  It is the only publicly listed e-commerce company in India with a market capitalisation of ~$750 million.

Advised founder on Company's strategy, next phase of growth and rebuilding investor relations using best-in-class practices.

Infibeam.com

FreeCharge was one of India’s largest digital payments companies acquired by Snapdeal in 2015.  

- Led the distressed Company on an interim basis to stabilise, give new direction strategically and operationally, helping turn the company from a gross monthly loss of $10 million to a gross profit in <6 months 
- Led Company's sale for $60 million to Axis Bank, one of India’s largest banks, a key strategic deal in the Indian fintech space with the vision to accelerate Axis's goal to become a digital-first bank

Freecharge

CEO & Board Director

Noon.com is the largest e-commerce company in the Middle East founded by H.E. Mohamed Alabbar, the founder of Emaar Properties.  The Company had initially raised $1 billion from leading regional investors, such as the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Advised founder Mr. Alabbar and CXOs, including on strategy, operations and launch of the Company, which is now the e-commerce market leader and has grown to 18,000 employees.

noon

Executive Committee

Snapdeal is one of India’s largest e-commerce companies.  It had raised $1.8 billion from leading investors, such as Softbank, Nexus Ventures, Alibaba, eBay, Temasek, BlackRock, among others, and was valued at $6.5 billion.  The Company had 10,000 employees across India.

Led in partnership with the founders the successful turnaround of Snapdeal from a position of distress with a $20 million monthly loss to a profit, the first for an Indian e-commerce company, and <6 months runway to a $140 million in excess cash.

- Led the creation of the Snapdeal 2.0 strategy & plan
- Restructured the organisation and reduced operating costs by 80%
- Led divestments of non-core businesses, including the sale of digital payments FreeCharge to Axis Bank, and the sale of e-commerce logistics company Vulcan Express to Future Supply Chain
- Advised founders in blocking the proposed sale of the company to Flipkart led by financial investors, gaining founder control of the Board, and having Snapdeal remain as an independent company consistent with the founders' vision
- Snapdeal 2.0 strategy and plan resulted in the company within 18 months going from a $20 million monthly loss to a profit, a first for an Indian e-commerce company, and <6 months runway to $140 million in excess cash

Snapdeal

Chief Strategy & Investment Officer

Softbank is the largest technology investor globally, and the founder of the $100 billion Softbank Vision Fund.

Advised Softbank on Housing.com & PropTiger post-merger strategy and integration.

SoftBank Group

Housing.com is one of India’s largest and most innovative online real estate companies.  It had raised over $130 million from leading investors, such as Softbank, Nexus Ventures, DST founder Yuri Milner, among others.  The Company had 3,000 employees in 30 cities.

Led the successful turnaround of Housing.com from a position of distress to a market leader using organic growth and a merger resulting in a company valued at $350 million and News Corp, the largest strategic investor in the online real estate space globally, investing $50 million and becoming the lead shareholder.

- Recruited by then Softbank President & former Google CBO Nikesh Arora and Company Board to lead turnaround of distressed company with runway of <4 months
- Developed a new business strategy & plan, focusing the business on key verticals & geographies, and transitioning the business from an ad-based to a transaction-based model
- Recruited and managed a new highly experienced management team, including former CXOs and senior executives from Google, Reliance Jio, and Amazon
- Restructured the 3,000 people organisation and reduced operating costs by 70%
- Achieved key operating results, such as increasing revenue by 400%, customer visits by 200% to over 4 million per month, and homes listed by 450% to 630,000 homes, becoming the most popular platform for buying and selling homes in India
- Established Housing.com as the most popular real estate destination online in India, including the largest social media following and a TVC that reached 200 million+ people
- Transformed the company's reputation, winning multiple awards for crisis management; named #9 most sought after employers in India by LinkedIn; and a case study on the turnaround was taught at HBS
- Led merger with News Corp company creating the largest online real estate company in India valued at $350 million, raising $50 million from News Corp, and creating the only online-to-offline real estate services company in India at the time

Housing.com

Valiant Entertainment

Vice Chairman

Valiant Entertainment owns and controls all rights to the third most popular universe of superhero characters after Marvel & DC Entertainment, and it was a former $65 million business unit of US-based video game company Acclaim Entertainment (NASDAQ: AKLM).

Led the successful acquisition out of bankruptcy and turnaround of Valiant Entertainment, a character-based entertainment company, resulting in a $100 million sale, a record return in the industry, and media recognition calling the company “Marvel 2.0”.

- Acquired assets in bankruptcy of former $65 million company for <$1 million and resolved all legal issues related to the company and its intellectual property rights
- Developed a new business and creative strategy & plan, transforming the company from a publishing business to a transmedia business
- Recruited and managed a new highly experienced management & advisory team, including former CXOs and senior executives from Marvel, Pixar, EA and Wizard Entertainment, including the former CEO of Marvel as Chairman of Valiant
- Raised $40 million in equity and $100 million in off balance sheet film financing from leading strategic investors, such as the former CEO of Marvel, early investors in Legendary Entertainment (The Dark Knight trilogy), and Chinese & Hollywood-based media company DMG Entertainment (Iron Man 3)
- Achieved key operating results, such as being named Publisher of the Year, becoming the third highest selling characters after Marvel & DC, and eventually being nominated for over 90 creative awards; built a merchandising licensing & promotions business; entered into a landmark five-movie partnership with Sony Pictures and Original Film (Fast and the Furious franchise), which resulted in movie 'Bloodshot' starring Vin Diesel where Kothari served as an Executive Producer that opened in the top three movies at the global box office 
- Sold the company for $100 million, resulting in a record return in the industry

Jason Kothari