Sixty eight, rich and successful, Richard Branson has taught people the way to live life is either king size or not at all. An owner of 500 companies, with a personal wealth of over $ 5 billion, Branson has given life lessons that are extraordinarily amazing. Here’s looking at some of the things the man behind Virgin Atlantic has told and taught the rest of the world.
1. Your age doesn’t define you
When Branson left school at the age of 16 to start his first ever magazine, little did he know he had sowed the seeds for a successful life. Over the years, with each of his ventures becoming a bigger and bigger success, Branson realised he had a lot to learn and a long way to grow. Soon enough, he understood age was just a number and to get ahead, one needed to work extremely hard in life.
2. It is important to enjoy every moment of life
The moment you start enjoying what you do, the results are immediate and instantly seen. Branson loves everything he does and with the success one sees from these ventures, he has clearly applied this principle in life. In fact, when he started Virgin Atlantic, the principle of this company was to make shopping fun and through the years, one can see how closely he has followed this particular theme!
3. Realise you are not doing anything wrong by working for free
Without realising it, when you work for free, you are broadening your horizons to things you did not think were possible. In fact, when Virgin Records started recording music, the first thing they did was to let multi instrumentalist, Mike Oldfield, use their recording studio for free. Soon after his record dropped, Mike became a sensation and Virgin Records became home for all musicians.
4. You learn when you do things
Without a journalism degree (or any other kind of degree, for that matter,) Branson started his magazine company to a whopping success right just by learning on the job. Learn through the mistakes and grow with them. The more you grow, the more you learn not just from your business, but also from the people around you. However, while it is okay to learn from your mistakes, it is important to know you aren’t making the same ones over and over again.
5. It is okay to take risks
Never one to wait for things or one who had the patience for things to happen for him, Richard Branson believes in taking risks by the horns and running with them. Make sure you throw yourself deep into the work you do and when you take risks, you know the results are going to be what you want. Incidentally, one of the major risks Branson took ended up in him having to mortgage his house.
An owner of a host of extremely successful companies and a yacht, Richard Branson clearly knows how to live life well. If you have learnt anything else from this great man, comment and let us know.
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.