Smile Group's Dealsandyou.com hires Alok Jain as CMO

Smile Group's daily deal site Dealsandyou.com has hired Alok Jain as its  chief marketing officer. Jain, a serial entrepreneur, founded startups including mobile apps company Unyqe,  digital marketing solutions company ThinkNet and the now-defunct online digital photo printing company Photmasti. Prior to that he has worked at GE Capital as territory manager.

In June last year, Dealsandyou hired Ryan Valles as its new CEO after the co-founder and CEO Gaurav Kachru quit the company.

The deal site raised $17 million in its second round of funding from Mayfield Fund and Norwest Venture Partners, Nokia Growth Partners and Intel Capital, in 2011.

Dealsandyou was formed in June 2010, when Germany-based Group Buying Global AG and Smile Interactive Group acquired Gurgaon Mumbai-based Wanamo Marketing Pvt Ltd that ran Wanamo.com. The site was then re-branded and launched in August 2010 as Dealsandyou.com. The company raised $1.5 million from Group Buying Global AG.

Deals sites have been fighting to find their foothold in the Indian market. From the market leader Snapdeal to Mydala all had to pivot from the original model in one or the other way. Groupon India, that boasts to be top player in online deal sites, claims to be selling a voucher every 33 seconds . On the other hand MyDala.com claimes to be selling around 80,000 vouchers a day.

(Edited by Prem Udayabhanu)