Anyone can play a video-game. But can you create one? That was the challenge that motivated brothers Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia to begin game programming when they were still in primary school. The challenge came from their father, a chartered accountant, who also bought them books on how to create games.
At age 13, when Divyank had a computer project at school, he and Bhavin, who was 15, spent an entire year developing a business-simulation game. It starts with an animation sequence on how a commercial partner has cheated the player and taken over a company. So, with no money in hand, the player is charged with building a rival business from scratch. The ultimate aim is to gain 100% market share. The player must handle money and employees as well as create and manage budgets, allocating across departments like human resources, research, sales and marketing. “Playing the game was educational. Creating it was an experience,” says Divyank.
Now, 21 years later, the brothers are winning for real. Divyank, referred to as Div, sold his six-year-old advertising technology firm Media.net to a consortium of Chinese investors in August for a whopping $900 million. The deal was negotiated by Bhavin in Beijing.
Combined with other exits and their personal investments, this gives the Turakhia brothers an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion, making the tech duo rare new entrants on the India rich list this year. Over the years the brothers have created an array of businesses, including Web hosting and cloud infrastructure, voice and messaging services, and digital payments. They have offices in Dubai, New York, Zurich, Los Angeles and Beijing.
“We’ve never been the first at anything, and it makes no difference to us,” says Divyank, 34. “But show me an industry where there’s $1-billion-plus to be made and I’ll do a better job than everyone else. We need to know that we are doing something that’s fun and exciting and complex.”
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