InMobi Success Story: How Naveen Tewari Built India’s First Unicorn Startup

India’s startup ecosystem has produced hundreds of unicorns over the last decade, but InMobi holds the distinction of being the country’s first unicorn. Founded in 2007 as a small SMS-based search startup, the company has evolved into a global consumer technology platform with businesses spanning AI-powered advertising, commerce, and digital consumer experiences. Today, InMobi has grown beyond its origins as an ad-tech company to become a GenAI-powered consumer internet platform with businesses including mobile advertising, Glance AI, and intelligent shopping experiences.

At the center of this transformation is founder Naveen Tewari, whose willingness to pivot early, pursue global expansion, and continuously innovate has shaped the company’s evolution. More than fifteen years after becoming India’s first unicorn, InMobi continues to compete with leading global technology companies through its expanding portfolio of AI-driven products and digital advertising solutions.

InMobi at a Glance (2026)

Note: The current totals outlined in a later part of this article employ the most recent known publicly available financial disclosures, whereas the business updates point to where the company is heading in 2026.

Who Is Naveen Tewari?

Naveen Tewari is one of India’s pioneering technology entrepreneurs. After graduating from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, he began his career at McKinsey & Company, where he gained first-hand experience in international business strategy and technology-driven markets.

However, Tewari’s ambitions extended beyond consulting. In 2007, he partnered with former ATG colleagues Mohit Saxena, Amit Gupta, and Abhay Singhal to launch a venture focused on enabling local search through SMS. Although the concept addressed a genuine market need, the team quickly realized that rapid growth in mobile internet adoption was fundamentally changing how consumers searched for local businesses.

Instead of pressing on with a business model that has little long-term promise, the group makes a daring strategic move that drastically alters the company’s direction.

The Birth of mKhoj

The company did not begin as an advertising business. It was originally launched as mKhoj, an SMS-based search platform that helped users find local information before the widespread adoption of smartphones and mobile internet.

At the time, internet penetration in India was still relatively low, making SMS one of the country’s most widely accessible digital communication channels. Although this idea sounds appealing, the founders realize that they are witnessing a bigger global phenomenon-the proliferation of smartphones and mobile apps.

Recognizing the shift in the market, the founders chose to completely transform the business rather than simply adapt the existing product. This becomes one of the moments in the history of InMobi.

The Pivot That Changes Everything

One of the most common reasons startups fail is becoming too attached to their original idea instead of adapting to changing market conditions. Naveen Tewari and his team took the opposite approach.

As smartphone adoption accelerated across the world, businesses increasingly sought more effective mobile advertising solutions. The founders, having anticipated this, shut down the SMS search product and began marketing it as a mobile advertising platform.

The company was rebranded as InMobi in 2008, moving away from mKhoj.

Timing is crucial. With mobile advertising still in its nascent phase, InMobi has the chance to develop the technology that will match advertisers to developers and publishers of apps before these firms become numerous.

Instead of focusing solely on India, the company immediately goes global, tapping into multiple international markets and offering services to multiple advertisers. This early aggressive global presence allows InMobi to distinguish itself from many Indian startups.

Funding Journey: Building Investor Confidence

Like many technology startups, InMobi relied on external funding to accelerate its growth and expand its business.

Its initial institutional funding came through a seed round of approximately US$0.5 million, enabling the company to validate and expand its mobile advertising platform. As the business gained momentum, investor confidence continued to grow.

Momentum Banked secured Series A funding of $7.1 million. Then, Series B brought in $8 million of investment, enabling them to grow internationally and keep developing.

The culmination comes in 2011 when SoftBank invests USD 200 million in InMobi, at that time one of the biggest investments ever made in an Indian tech startup. It pushes the valuation of the company past USD 1 billion and makes InMobi India’s first unicorn. With this investment, the Indian entrepreneur also sends a strong message to international VCs that Indian startups are capable of establishing technology businesses that could resonate worldwide.

How InMobi Makes Money

While InMobi initially built its business around mobile advertising, the company has since diversified its revenue streams across enterprise advertising solutions and consumer internet platforms. Today, it generates revenue from multiple businesses spanning AI-powered advertising, commerce, and digital consumer experiences.

Its primary revenue streams include:

• Marketing Operating System: InMobi’s AI-powered marketing platform enables brands to create targeted advertising campaigns and reach mobile users through programmatic advertising.
• Publisher Monetization: Developers and publishers using InMobi’s publishing platform generate revenue through advertisements served via InMobi’s advertising exchange, while the company earns a commission on advertising spend.
• Demand-Side Platform (DSP): Advertisers use InMobi’s demand-side platform to purchase advertising inventory across mobile applications and other digital properties.
• Consumer Platforms: Products such as Glance and 1Weather generate additional monetization opportunities through advertising, commerce, and consumer engagement.
• AI-Driven Commerce: Glance AI is increasingly focused on agentic commerce, using artificial intelligence to assist consumers throughout their shopping journey.

By serving both enterprise customers (B2B) and end consumers (B2C), InMobi has built a diversified business model that generates recurring revenue while supporting its long-term AI-driven growth strategy.

Glance: InMobi’s Biggest Growth Engine

• Although advertising remains InMobi’s core business, Glance has emerged as one of the company’s most valuable growth engines.
• Since its launch in 2019, Glance has transformed the smartphone lock screen into a personalized platform for entertainment, content discovery, shopping, and digital experiences.
• Instead of displaying a static lock screen, Glance delivers AI-powered news, entertainment, sports, shopping recommendations, and other personalized content directly to users.
• Today, Glance is evolving from a content discovery platform into an AI-powered shopping platform.
• Using its GenAI capabilities, users can upload a selfie to receive personalized fashion recommendations, visualize outfit suggestions, and complete purchases through a conversational shopping experience.
• The company is also expanding Glance through partnerships with leading global device manufacturers.
• Following launches with Samsung and Motorola, Glance is bringing AI-enabled shopping experiences to smartphones and smart TVs, reflecting InMobi’s ambition to become a leading player in agentic commerce.

The Latest Highlights of How AI Is Changing InMobi in 2026

Artificial intelligence is now core to InMobi’s future.

InMobi is positioning itself as a consumer internet platform that delivers AI-powered experiences for both businesses and consumers, extending well beyond traditional ad-tech.

The company uses AI across advertising optimization, personalization, shopping recommendations, content discovery, and digital commerce.

The company’s AI initiatives focus on:

• Providing very relevant advertising experiences.
• Enhancing campaign performance with machine learning.
• Enabling conversational shopping through Glance AI.
• Empowering agentic commerce that makes it easier for consumers to find and buy what they need.
• Deploying AI infrastructure that serves millions of users worldwide.

This move provides InMobi with the opportunity to tap into the high-growth AI economy, bolstering both its consumer and enterprise units.

Financial Performance and Global Presence

Since InMobi is a private company and, unlike listed companies, it does not file quarterly results, the recent financials by the company available in the public domain indicate that the company has a profitable business.

According to publicly available FY23 financial disclosures, InMobi reported revenue of approximately US$281 million and a profit of around US$41 million, highlighting the company’s ability to remain profitable while continuing to invest in product innovation and AI technologies.

Today, the company:

• Has approximately 2,500 employees.
• Spreading its wings over more than a dozen countries.
• Provides for the world of advertisers, publishers & consumers.
• Continues to expand its global technology footprint through AI-powered enterprise and consumer products.

Challenges Along the Way

It operates in competition with global and market heavyweights, Google and Meta, neither of which is dabbling in digital advertising, as they rule the roost. Concurrently, the tussle with privacy regulation, Apple’s App Tracking Transparency, and shifting consumer attitudes are impacting the advertising field.

Rather than doubling down on advertising, InMobi made a smart pivot by investing in artificial intelligence, commerce, and the consumer experience. This diversification away from advertising revenue and into the realm of intelligent shopping and digital experiences has proven to be successful.

Leadership Lessons from Naveen Tewari

There are several lessons to be learned from Virgin Mobile founder Naveen Tewari’s entrepreneurial journey.

• Know when to change. This experience (the shift from SMS search platform to mobile advertising) demonstrates how starting early and being flexible can lead to much greater opportunity.
• By thinking not just of India but the world. InMobi began to look overseas rather than making just products for India and was thus able to compete with the other largest technology companies in the world.
• Keep transforming the business. InMobi advances from an ad-tech company to a consumer internet platform driven by GenAI, keeping it ahead of the pack.
• Build for the future. The company continues to put money into AI, commerce, and deep consumer intelligence–showing that it wants to think ahead of the curve instead of following it.

The Road Ahead

More than a decade after becoming India’s first unicorn, InMobi has evolved from helping brands buy mobile advertisements to building AI-powered platforms that enhance digital commerce and consumer experiences.

Today, the company is developing AI-driven platforms that are reshaping how consumers discover, shop for, and engage with digital products and services.

Through Glance AI, enterprise advertising solutions, and a growing focus on agentic commerce, InMobi is strengthening its position at the intersection of artificial intelligence, digital advertising, and commerce. As businesses increasingly embrace the AI-first era, InMobi’s strong consumer reach and AI-driven business model position it well for future growth.

Conclusion

InMobi’s journey demonstrates that building a sustainable technology business requires far more than a single innovative idea. From its beginnings as an SMS-based search startup to becoming India’s first unicorn and later evolving into a global GenAI-powered consumer internet company, InMobi has consistently adapted to changing market dynamics.

For entrepreneurs, the company’s story highlights an important lesson: long-term success often belongs to businesses that adapt before market conditions force them to do so. As artificial intelligence continues to reshape advertising and digital commerce, InMobi appears well-positioned to remain a significant player in the global technology ecosystem.

1. Why is InMobi India’s first unicorn?

InMobi became India’s first unicorn in 2011 after raising US$200 million from SoftBank, valuing the company at more than US$1 billion. The milestone marked the emergence of India’s first unicorn startup and demonstrated that Indian technology companies could build globally competitive businesses.

2. What is InMobi’s business model?

InMobi operates a B2B AI-driven advertising and consumer technology business. The company helps brands reach mobile consumers through programmatic advertising while enabling publishers and app developers to monetize their digital platforms. It also generates revenue through consumer platforms such as Glance and AI-powered commerce solutions.

3. How does InMobi make money?

InMobi generates revenue from multiple businesses, including mobile advertising, demand-side platform (DSP) services, AI-powered marketing solutions, consumer platforms such as Glance, and AI-driven commerce products. This diversified business model reduces dependence on a single revenue source and supports long-term growth.

4. Who owns InMobi?

InMobi was founded by Naveen Tewari, Mohit Saxena, Amit Gupta, and Abhay Singhal. The company remains privately held and is backed by investors including SoftBank, Kleiner Perkins, and Mumbai Angels, while Naveen Tewari continues to serve as Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

5. What makes InMobi successful?

One of the biggest reasons behind InMobi’s success is its ability to anticipate technological shifts and adapt its business strategy accordingly. The company successfully evolved from an SMS-based search startup to a mobile advertising platform and later expanded into AI-powered advertising, digital commerce, and consumer internet products through platforms such as Glance AI, allowing it to remain competitive in the global technology industry.