While most kids were grappling with the realities of growing up, Vishal took a head start and started his first company – FACT, soon after finish school at the ripe young age of 16. 

In 1999, he founded Indiagames, then a five member team. Today he leads a global operation with over 300 employees and offices in Mumbai, Beijing, London and Los Angeles making Indiagames one of the leading mobile game companies globally. Today he is recognized as being instrumental in starting and growing the Gaming Industry in India.

He was part of The Nokia Advisory Council for Games and actively advices Nokia on wireless and gaming technologies and is a much sought after speaker at gaming and wireless technology conferences. Indiagames under Vishal’s leadership was featured amongst Red Herring Asia’s Top 100 companies in 2005. 

Amongst his other achievements and industry recognitions include being featured among the top 40 Indian entrepreneurs by Business Today magazine in 2001; an E&Y Indian Entrepreneur of the year award nomination in 2004 and most recently being listed among the top 50 executives in the mobile content space by the UK based Mobile Entertainment Magazine. This list featured the likes of Steve Jobs of Apple. Vishal also features among the 20 Fab Indians to watch out for in 2006 by The Week magazine

Samir Bangara has worked extensively with early stage companies throughout his career as a venture capitalist and as an investment banker. He has always been focused on advising early stage ‘new economy’ companies mainly in the wireless, software, and business process outsourcing space; assisting them to scale up, raise funds or execute strategic sale opportunities. Samir has advised over $200 mn in venture financing and/or M&A transactions in his roles on the buy side and sell side.

Prior to joining Indiagames Samir was a Vice President at Ernst & Young India’s M&A advisory team where he led the firms wireless and BPO initiatives. Samir successfully advised several cross border and domestic transactions in the technology space significantly contributing to Ernst & Young’s leadership position as the top technology M&A advisory firm in the country. In this role, he assisted over 50 companies in their strategic growth initiatives. Further, in his capacity as advisor to Indiagames, Samir led the strategic investment of Tom Online, Cisco and Macromedia in the company in 2005.

Earlier, Samir was part of ILFS Investment Managers (IIML) where he worked for two years and was part of the team investing in media and technology. He was also instrumental in the seed stage financing of Indiagames by IIML in 1999.

At Indiagames, Samir serves as its Chief Operating Officer, responsible for the firms Asia Pacific operations and launch of its new business initiatives including its broadband based PC gaming service – Games on Demand.

Samir is an MBA in Finance and has a Bachelors Degree in Commerce.

Sean Malatesta has served as a key executive in building and developing businesses within the Media, Telecom, Entertainment and Games sectors. Malatesta is a seasoned entrepreneur and has raised more than $50 million in strategic financing for companies since 1998. At IG FUN, he manages the business worldwide, interacting with mobile carriers, handset makers, marketers and rights holders. 

Prior to Indiagames, Malatesta was Director of Business Development with Mobile365 where he assembled partnerships with mobile carriers, technology companies, content makers, motion picture studios, TV networks, records labels, advertising agencies and media companies. In the past, Malatesta was VP, Business Development/Mobile for DigiGuide, a UK technology company, that produces leading applications including advanced TV guides (EPGs) for multi- platforms (including interactive TV). 

Earlier in his career, in New York City, Malatesta was Founder and Vice President, International & Domestic Business Development and Co-Founder of Yack Media Services (YMS), publisher of the leading Internet Program Guide service. 

He has been profiled in publications worldwide and was selected by Ernst & Young as an Entrepreneur of The Year Finalist (2000). Malatesta has shared his vision for networked entertainment at many industry conferences, including MIT, CES, Digital Hollywood, NAB, COMDEX, CTIA, NATPE, MIP/MILIA and Internet World. He holds a B.A. from University of Michigan and a J.D. from the New York Law School