Google's mobile head for India quits; now heading Berlin-based Sociomantic's entry into the country

Mahesh Narayanan, Google's mobile head for India, has left the company and joined Berlin-headquartered Sociomantic Labs as its managing director in India. The online marketing startup has expanded its operations into the country with an office in Mumbai. In his new role, Narayanan will build the India team and look after the company's growth here, as per the company's statement.

Narayanan was the founding member of Google India's direct sales operations in 2005. He joined the mobile advertising firm AdMob as its India head in June 2009. Following Google's acquisition of AdMob in 2010, he was made the country head for mobile at Google India.

Prior to joining Google India in 2005, he worked as a marketing manager (digital) in Times Now. Earlier, Narayanan had been in various senior positions when he worked with mobile and web companies like Mediaturf, Baazee.com, Bidorbuy.co.za and Rediff.com. He holds a B.Com from Mumbai University and has done an MBA in Marketing from SIES College of Management Studies, Mumbai.

"Sociomantic is already driving significant value and scale for Indian advertisers through technology-driven display advertising, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to push this company to become the market leader," said Narayanan while commenting on his new role.

Set up in 2009, Sociomantic also has offices in Berlin, Warsaw, Paris, Amsterdam, Sao Paulo, Moscow, New York, London and Madrid. The company's team has grown to 100 from 20 in the last fiscal year and expects to double headcount again in the next 12 months. The company claims to have online display campaigns for e-commerce advertisers in more than 50 markets globally.

(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)