Paavan Nanda is Co-founder of WinZO Games, India’s first and biggest vernacular real money E-sports platform. He also co-founded Zostel, India’s first backpacker hostel chain, and ZO Rooms, the fastest growing start-up in the hospitality space.

An MBA from IIM, Calcutta, and an engineering graduate from NSIT. Paavan is a dynamic business leader leading his companies into their next phase of evolution. Paavan started Zostel in 2013 and ZO Rooms in 2014. He attracted venture capital from marquee investors such as US-based Tiger Global and grew operations in a very short span.

His sharp entrepreneurial acumen has helped establish these companies as pioneers and leaders in their respective spaces. An avid gamer, Paavan’s latest venture WinZO, started in 2018, is already India’s biggest platform for mobile gaming in India, with more than 7 million users in less than a year.

In barely a few years, Paavan has built consumer-centric brands across 50 cities in India and created a 700+ strong organization, garnering more than $30 m in investment from across the world.