You may know Thomas Peterffy as a Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Interactive Brokers Group, Inc., but what is unknown to the world is the fact that he was a refugee who migrated from place to place in search of a better future.
Thomas was Born in 1944 in Hungary, in a hospital basement during a Russian air raid. The harsh Soviet rule in Hungary made many people leave the place and move in search of a better life. Thomas and his father Perenc Peterffy were among them.
His father who was living with his second wife found it hard to accommodate his son. He gave Thomas a 100 dollars and asked to him to make his living. There began his journey from being penniless to being one of the world’s wealthiest person.
The young immigrant Thomas was not so good at speaking English, left his engineering studies and emigrated to the United States as a refugee in 1965. He moved to the New York City and earned a bachelor’s degree from Clark University.
He began his career as an architectural draftsman in the US. It was in this firm, he programmed a newly purchased computer, which ultimately shaped his future. Eventually, he left this career as a designer of software and bought a seat on the American Stock Exchange to trade equity options. He consistently replaced manual processes with more efficient automated ones.
He made a major change by introducing handheld computers onto the trading floors in early 1980’s. He founded his first company T.P. & Co in 1978 and his second venture was Timber Hill Inc., in 1982. In 2001, he named Timer Hill Group to Interactive Brokers Group LLC. The company’s headquarters is now located in Greenwich, now logs in over one million trades per day.
According to Forbes reports, the net worth of Thomas Peterffy estimates around $16 billion and this makes him stand as the 32nd richest man in the US. And he is fondly known as “The Father Of High-Speed Trading.”
During the 2016 Presidential Elections, Thomas Peterffy donated $100,000 to the campaign of Republican nominee Donald Trump. He said: “This election will determine the course of this country for a long time into the future.”
MobiKwik is venturing into the stock broking sector with the launch of its subsidiary, MobiKwik Securities Broking Private Limited (MSBPL), following approval from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on March 3, 2025. This move aims to diversify MobiKwik’s offerings beyond its core digital payments services and compete with established players like Zerodha and Groww.
MSBPL will provide a range of brokerage services, including trading in shares, securities, commodities, and derivatives. The subsidiary has an initial capital of Rs 1 lakh, with plans for an additional Rs 2 crore investment to support its operations.
As MobiKwik enters this competitive market, it brings a substantial user base of 172 million and a merchant network of 5 million. Despite recent financial challenges, including a reported loss of Rs 55.2 crore in Q3 FY25, the company aims to leverage its existing infrastructure and user engagement to capture a share of the growing investment technology market, projected to reach $74 billion by 2030.
This strategic expansion aligns with MobiKwik’s broader goals of enhancing its financial service
Nazara Technologies has sold its entire 71.54% stake in Sports Unity Private Limited, the company behind the multiplayer quiz game ‘Qunami’, for INR 7.15 lakh. This divestment, effective March 25, 2025, signifies a strategic shift for Nazara, which had previously acquired a controlling interest in Sports Unity in 2019 for INR 7.5 crore.
The decision to offload the stake comes as Sports Unity has faced financial difficulties, reporting no active business operations and a negative net worth of INR 0.45 crore at the end of FY24. This move aligns with Nazara’s broader strategy to streamline its operations and concentrate on more profitable ventures within the gaming sector.
This sale follows Nazara’s recent divestment of a 94.85% stake in another subsidiary, Open Play, to Moonshine Technologies for INR 104.33 crore. Despite reporting record quarterly revenue of INR 544.7 crore in Q3 FY25, Nazara experienced a 53.5% decline in net profit year-over-year.
Nazara continues to focus on enhancing its portfolio through strategic acquisitions and investments in high-potential gaming platforms while navigating the competitive landscape of the gaming industry.
Hypergro.ai, a Bengaluru-based marketing technology startup, has raised Rs 7 crore in seed funding led by Silverneedle Ventures, with participation from Huddle, TDV Partners, HME Ventures, Dholakia Ventures, FiiRE, and angel investors. Founded in 2022 by Rituraj Biswas, Neha Soman, Abhijeet Kumar, and Arijit Mukhopadhyay, the company aims to revolutionize digital marketing by addressing challenges like high Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) and low Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).
The startup leverages AI to create hyper-personalized video ads using user-generated content (UGC). The fresh capital will be used to enhance Hypergro.ai’s AI capabilities, expand operations, and build a specialized team focusing on data analysis, predictive algorithms, and automation.
Since its inception, Hypergro.ai has collaborated with over 70 brands, including several from Shark Tank India. The company’s innovative approach has led to its selection for Google’s Startups Accelerator: AI First (India) program in July 2024, providing access to critical training, mentorship, and state-of-the-art AI tools.
Hypergro.ai’s platform now supports a community of over 300,000 creators across India and has partnered with more than 100 brands, significantly enhancing its AI model’s accuracy and improving revenue generation for clients. As it continues to expand and refine its AI-powered marketing solutions, Hypergro.ai is set to transform the digital advertising landscape, offering businesses more effective and efficient customer acquisition and engagement strategies.