InMobi Expands into Lucknow, Sets Up Base to Drive Deep-Tech Innovation for Global Markets

InMobi, a global leader in AI-powered technology, today announced the launch of a new technology centre in Lucknow, bringing the city into its global innovation network.

As one of the first global deep-tech companies to tap into Lucknow’s growing tech talent pool, the move represents a significant step in InMobi’s mission to decentralize innovation, unlock high-potential talent beyond India’s metropolitan cities, and strengthen India’s global leadership in AI and deep-tech.

The Lucknow tech centre will play a critical role in advancing innovations in cutting-edge technologies including Generative AI, Machine Learning Operations (MLOps), automation, and the development of large-scale AI infrastructure.

InMobi plans to recruit around 500 deep-tech engineers, product specialists, and data science professionals for this centre over the coming years. This investment is expected to generate over 3,000 direct and indirect job opportunities in the region — giving a major boost to state’s economy. This initiative also aligns with the Uttar Pradesh Government’s vision of making the state a $1 trillion economy by 2029.

“At InMobi, we’ve always believed that great talent isn’t confined to geography, it’s driven by mindset, ambition, and opportunity,” said Mohit Saxena, co-founder and Group CTO, InMobi and Glance. “Over the past two decades, we’ve built world-class engineering teams out of Bangalore and San Francisco, two of the most respected tech hubs globally. Now, we’re adding Lucknow to this league. It marks the beginning of a long-term movement to build a vibrant deep-tech ecosystem beyond the traditional metros. By investing in local talent, collaborating with academia, and building cutting-edge products for global markets from the heart of Uttar Pradesh, we are reshaping the innovation map of Bharat— and this is just the beginning,” Saxena added.

Lucknow is home to some of India’s finest engineering talent, with close proximity to several premier institutions such as IIT Kanpur, IIIT Lucknow, IIM Lucknow and MNNIT Allahabad. This positions the city a strategic hub for nurturing future-ready tech capabilities. InMobi plans to collaborate with local universities and academic institutes provide hands-on product training and launch internship and upskilling programs tailored to real-world industry demands – effectively bridging the gap between academia and innovation.

“Our presence in Lucknow is a testament to our belief that talent exists everywhere — and it’s our responsibility to nurture it,” said Shefali Rai, Chief Human Resources Officer at InMobi and Glance. “Our goal is to create a workplace where people don’t have to leave their hometowns to build cutting-edge global products. By bringing InMobi’s high-performance culture, inclusive ethos, and deep-tech opportunities to emerging talent hubs, we’re enabling careers that are rooted locally but built for the world.”

InMobi’s new Lucknow office is part of the company’s broader innovation strategy and builds on its $200 million commitment to AI made earlier this year, which includes the launch of Glance AI, a revolutionary AI commerce platform that is transforming how the world shops. By decentralizing its R&D footprint, the company aims to accelerate innovation, foster inclusive talent development, and develop sustainable tech ecosystem, beyond traditional urban centers.

InMobi Cofounder Amit Gupta Quits To Launch IoT-driven Bicycle Sharing Startup

InMobi’s co-founder Amit Gupta is stepping down from his executive role within the company, in just after five months, to launch internet of things-driven bicycle sharing startup Yulu.

Backed by Softbank, InMobi was founded by Amit Gupta along with Naveen Tewari, Mohit Saxena and Abhay Singhal in 2007. While Mohit Saxena had already quit the company to start his own venture, Amit has become the second co-founder to quit InMobi and now the company is left with Naveen and Abhay, among four of its co-founders.

Amit Gupta, who is also President of OEM and telco solutions, will now become CEO of Yulu. He, however, will remain involved with InMobi as co-founder.

"I am not leaving InMobi. I have always had a desire to be aligned with a social cause. This idea has germinated into something that finally fulfils this need. Naveen and my fellow co-founders have been an integral part of seeing me through this process. I will continue as co-founder at InMobi minus the operational capabilities", said Amit Gupta in a statement.

Gupta's new venture Yulu will launch its bike-sharing service in Bangalore with a few hundred bicycles. Yulu is starting with regular, dockless bicycles that people can rent using their iOS or Android phone. The bikes unlock via QR codes and bill the rider for every 30 minutes of use.

Bike-sharing has become a new hotbed for founders and VCs, globally. In China, companies Ofo and Mobike have both achieved unicorn status for their respective bike-sharing startups. While Ofo had already showed its interest to launch its services in India, Zoomcar has too launched its bicycle-rental service PEDL, last month.

It is also notable that while Yulu is IoT-driven and launching its services first in the city of Bangalore. To recall, the city-- in July-- had announced that it is working on making IoT-enabled roads.

InMobi And Tapjoy Forge Exclusive Partnership in India

InMobi, a global mobile advertising and discovery platform, today announced that it is partnering with Tapjoy, a leading platform for mobile advertising and app monetization, to monetize Tapjoy’s inventory in India.

Mobile gaming continues to see growing adoption in India. According to a report by Nasscom, mobile game downloads are expected to grow at a CAGR of 58% over the next five years, touching an estimated 5.3 billion downloads in 2020.

Capitalizing on this trend, InMobi’s partnership with Tapjoy presents a robust opportunity for Indian advertisers to enhance their reach to a wide selection of global mobile gaming apps. Tapjoy has 40 million unique users in India across popular mobile games such as 8 Ball Pool, Criminal Case, Shadow Fight 2, and Subway Surfers, and advertisers will be able to expand their reach beyond InMobi’s 135mn unique devices in India through access to Tapjoy’s India inventory.

Tapjoy’s Interplay ads help marketers connect with a qualified audience in premium apps. Tapjoy offers a complete suite of advertising products including engagement-based ad experiences like video and gamified rich media, as well as performance-based ad solutions to drive a direct response, grow advertisers’ consumer base, and increase in-app engagement.

“We are excited to be Tapjoy’s exclusive monetization partner in India. Mobile gaming is growing at an exponential pace in India and through this partnership we are bringing the best of global mobile gaming inventory to advertisers in India who want to reach high quality users,” said Vasuta Agarwal, VP and GM India, InMobi.

“InMobi is a fantastic partner for Tapjoy in India thanks to it's long-standing reputation for delivering high-quality mobile advertising solutions for local performance advertisers and brand agencies” said Paul Longhenry, SVP of Strategy, Business and Corporate Development for Tapjoy. "Our international game studio partners are seeing very strong growth with Indian consumers and we're excited to work with InMobi to ensure those audiences are presented with highly engaging rewarded ads from their favorite local brands."