Azhar Iqbal is an Indian entrepreneur who is the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of news providing application InShorts. He came into limelight after being selected as a judge on the business reality television series Shark Tank India in October 2023, commonly known as “the Shark”.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Azhar Iqbal was born in 1993 (age 30 years; as of 2023) in Kishanganj, Bihar, India. After completing his schooling, he started preparing for IIT JEE. He joined the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) in 2009. There he studied Computer Science Engineering. However, he left IIT in 2012 to become an entrepreneur.
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 10″
Hair Color: Black
Eye colour: dark brown
Family
Azhar Iqbal belongs to a Muslim family from Bihar.
parents and siblings
There is not much information about his parents and siblings.
wife and children
He is unmarried and has no children.
livelihood
climb towards success
Starting with a Facebook Page
While studying in college, Azhar, along with two of his classmates, Deepit Purkayastha and Anunay Pandey, started a Facebook page called News in Shorts. According to him, he decided to publish news on Facebook because many of his classmates did not know what was happening in the country and the world. The second reason he cited was that traditional news websites and applications published articles that were too long and time-consuming. He talked about this in an interview and said,
I started my entrepreneurial journey in 2013 with my Indian Institute of Technology classmates Anunay Pandey and Deepit Purkayastha. We observed that Millennials were increasingly distancing themselves from the concept of reading news and the major barrier was the long and heavy nature of the content and lack of time to read. Understanding the issue, we decided to create a Facebook page called News in Shorts, which focused on giving readers a quick summary of news stories within a limit of 60 words. Today, InShorts is India’s highest-rated and #1 English news app with over 10 million active users.
On the Facebook page, Azhar used to publish trending news in short form for people to read within a minute. After starting the Facebook page, he asked his friends and family members to share the page among their friend circle and soon the page gained many followers.
A photograph of Azhar taken when he was at IIT Delhi
Participating in TeaLabs
While studying at IIT Delhi, Azhar Iqbal, Deepit and Anunay were shortlisted to participate in several entrepreneurship seminars and programs organized by Times Internet Group’s TLabs. There, he interacted with many people and well-known entrepreneurs and managed to raise Rs. Rs 10 lakh in exchange for 10% equity for your business idea. In an interview, Azhar revealed that he was inspired to become an entrepreneur when he saw companies like Snapdeal and Flipkart expanding their user base in India by raising funds. He also said that the economic policies implemented by the Government of India in 2009 created a favorable market for budding entrepreneurs.
A photo of Azhar with other co-founders of InShorts
Establishing yourself as a successful entrepreneur
in shorts
In 2012, Azhar Iqbal decided to leave IIT Delhi to focus on developing a business. On September 4, 2013, the trio launched the mobile application News in Shorts, through which users were given news on trending topics in just sixty words that took less than thirty seconds to read, that too for free. The application was released for Android users. As the business expanded, he hired a team of professional writers. He also started earning from his application with the help of advertisements. In an interview Azhar said that he never followed the traditional shift system of working and worked more than 12 hours a day. In 2014, Azhar and his two friends managed to raise good investment funding in a C round of funding in New Delhi. In 2015, the application was renamed InShorts and received investments of over Rs. 25 crores. The application was launched for iOS users in the same year.
Initially, 80 to 100 news articles were published daily, but this number increased substantially to more than 500. In April 2016, to increase the reach of the application in tier-two cities, Azhar launched the Hindi version of InShorts. He was appointed as the director of Inshorts India Advertising and Services Pvt Ltd on 10 January 2020. In 2021, InShorts managed to secure an investment of $60 million. As of October 2023, InShorts has raised over $119 million in 6 rounds of funding from 8 investors. As of 2023, the application has had over 10 million downloads, making it one of the most downloaded and used applications in India. Its price is Rs. 3,700 crore (approx.) in October 2023.
Azhar’s photo taken in office
other business
On 16 November 2019, he became the director of Locvid Services Pvt Ltd, which provided services related to accounting, bookkeeping, auditing activities, tax consultancy, market research and opinion polls, and business and management consultancy. In the same year, Azhar along with Deepit and Anunay launched a social media application named Public. The purpose of the application is to connect local communities in India with each other.
A logo of a public application
In 2021, the platform received an investment of Rs. 300 million. In October 2023, the application crossed 100 million downloads, making it India’s largest location-based social network platform.
An Instagram highlight on Azhar’s profile
Awards and Honors
- Business World Young Entrepreneur Award
- Most Enterprising Brand Award
- Fortune India 40 Under 40 (2016)
- Business World 40 Under 40 (2018)
Azhar Iqbal with Business World’s 40 Under 40 Award
- Forbes India 30 Under 30 (2018)
- Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 (2018)
- Entrepreneur of the Year (Media) by Entrepreneur India Magazine (2022)
Azhar receives Entrepreneur of the Year (Media) award
car collection
- Mini Cooper
Azhar Iqbal and a picture of his Mini Cooper
- jeep wrangler rubicon
Azhar Iqbal getting photographed with his Jeep Wrangler Rubicon
- porsche 718 boxster
Iqbal posing for a photo with his Porsche 718 Boxster
Favorite
- Quote: “Life isn’t fair, get used to it” by Bill Gates.
- Film: Chak De! India (2007)
Facts/General Knowledge
- In an interview, Azhar Iqbal revealed that he took inspiration from Sachin Bansal to bring startup culture to India.
- According to Azhar Iqbal, he did not develop the habit of reading until he started the business of publishing news articles.
- In 2015, Times of India published an article on Azhar.
Times of India article on Azhar Iqbal
- Reportedly, Azhar’s family faced difficulties when he decided to leave his engineering studies at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.
- In October 2023, she entered the business reality TV show Shark Tank India as a judge.
A picture of Azhar Iqbal with the judges of Shark Tank India
- He is an avid traveler and has visited many countries.
A picture of Azhar was taken while he was holidaying in Italy
- He likes to participate in adventure sports like skydiving and scuba diving.
A picture of Azhar Iqbal while he was scuba diving
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn