Draft:Harish Bahl

Harish Bahl is an Indian technology entrepreneur and investor. He is the founder and chairman of the Smile group, a venture studio and investment fund with offices in India and Singapore.

Early life and education
Bahl was born in 1972 in New Delhi, India. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, with specialisation in Computer Science.

Career
In 1999, Bahl founded Smile with the launch of StudioSmile, a digital services and technology group. Over the next two decades, he founded or cofounded a number of Internet businesses under the Smile umbrella.

In 2005, StudioSmile launched Quasar, a digital marketing agency based in Gurgaon, India. Quasar quickly grew to be a major player in digital advertising with Microsoft, MakeMyTrip.com, Monster.com, LG, Kingfisher Airlines among its clients. In 2007, WPP acquired a 75% stake in Quasar.

In 2006, Bahl co-founded SVG Media, a digital and mobile marketing company, and Tyroo, a digital and programmatic advertising company. In 2007, Yahoo! bought more than 35% stake in Tyroo. In 2017, Dentsu Aegis Network acquired three of SVG Media group businesses, DGM, Komli and SeventyNine in an all-cash deal.

In 2007, Bahl joined German entrepreneurs and angel investors Klaus Hommels and Oliver Jung to form Springstar, a business incubator. In 2011, Airbnb partnered with Springstar for its international roll out to countries other than the US. In 2016, Harish partnered with Airbnb a second time to launch Airseva, a global shared services center of excellence, in Gurgaon, India. Airseva was later renamed as Airbnb Capability Center.

In 2009, Bahl founded Squad Digital, an integrated digital marketing agency in Sub-saharan Africa, as a joint-venture between Smile Group, Quasar and ScanGroup, an African marketing services company.

Starting in 2010, Bahl through Springstar started an e-commerce incubator and launched flash sales site FashionandYou, and several other ecommerce startups.

In 2015, Smile incubated SingleInterface, a SaaS-based online location management platform, with Tarun Sobhani as its founder. SingleInterface raised $30 million from Asia Partners and Paypal Ventures in April 2024.

In January 2018, Smile incubated and later invested in Zupee, an online gaming startup, with Bahl joining its Board as Director. Zupee reported an operating revenue of ₹831.51 crore in Financial Year 2023.

Other work
Bahl co-founded Plaksha University in 2018 and currently serves as its trustee.

He is also a Venture Partner at venture capital funds Carmenta Management LLC and Tomales Bay Capital, and a partner in WestCap.

Awards and Recognitions

 * Udyog Rattan Award from The Institute of Economic studies (IES)

Personal Life
Bahl is married and has two daughters.