Smile Group appoints Ankur Nigam as its director of finance

Gurgaon-based Smile Group, which owns and operates various properties in the consumer and internet media space, has appointed Ankur Nigam as its director of finance. In his new role, Nigam will be responsible for driving strategic initiatives (including transactions) and strengthening the operating finance functions at portfolio companies. He will report to Harish Bahl, founder and chairman of the group.

"In this phase of aggressive growth for several of our businesses, Nigam's experience in the diverse sectors we operate in will be immensely valuable for us," Bahl said in a statement.

Nigam comes with over 15 years of experience and till recently, he was the global leader at McKinsey & Co. for their centre of competence for private equity and principal investors. Prior to McKinsey, he was vice president with the transactions advisory team at Ernst & Young.

Smile Group is an India-based internet group with holdings in the consumer internet and digital media space. The group has partnered with entrepreneurs, VCs and global companies to build digital companies, expand their operations and increase their footprint by rolling out internationally.

In the past, it had partnered and built businesses with leading companies like AirBnB, WPP Digital, Ogilvy, Yahoo!, and ScanGroup (Africa), and worked with top Silicon Valley and European investors.

Its own internet properties either owned or incubated include ventures such as Fashionandyou, Dealsandyou and Freecultr.

Interestingly, Nigam joins the group at a time when its venture Fashionandyou is trying to make a comeback in the lucrative and fast growing lifestyle apparel and accessories e-com space, after losing its early mover advantage when markets consolidated around the top two players- Myntra and late entrant Jabong. The venture has already secured $20 million and in the process of securing another $30 million in funding from existing as well as the new investors.